Account opening computer system architecture and process for implementing same

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides, in alternative embodiments, a computer architecture and/or computer implemented methods for account opening. In some embodiments, the invention provides an integrated, component-based technology platform in which globally standardized, business configurable account opening processes are separate and decoupled from the user interface screens and are directly manageable by business functionality and/or personnel. In various embodiments, the invention provides pause and resume, save and retrieve, cross-channel, metrics, audit tracking, data logging, and/or straight-through processing capabilities for account opening.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of PCT Application No.PCT/US2011/037143, filed May 19, 2011, entitled “Account OpeningComputer System Architecture and Process for Implementing Same,” whichclaims the benefit of, and priority to, the following applications: U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/347,199, filed May 21, 2010, entitled“Account Opening Computer System Architecture and Process forImplementing Same”; U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/391,815, filedOct. 11, 2010, entitled “Computer Architecture and Process forApplication Processing Engine”; U.S. Provisional Application No.61/405,398, filed Oct. 21, 2010, entitled “Account Opening Metrics”;U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/407,210, filed Oct. 27, 2010,entitled “Integrated Customer Communications Module (ICCM)”; and U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/435,000, filed Jan. 21, 2011, entitled“Account Opening Flow Configuration: Navigation Interceptor and PortletWiring.” All of the above applications are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

While various electronic banking systems and methods have beendescribed, they are often characterized by business rules that arehard-coded by into a single solution by information technology (IT),long lead times required to support business process changes, rules thatcannot be reused, and frameworks that do not support ‘test and learn’capabilities. Channels are managed separately, communications are basedon organization (not customer) preferences, content is disparate acrosschannels and countries, and there is heavy reliance on high-costchannels. Oftentimes, customers are not able to open accounts in callcenters, cannot complete credit card applications in a single visit,and/or cannot start an application in one channel and finish it another.A variety of different processes are used to identify customers, anddifferent sets of screens and systems are used for customer and staffusers. There is not a consistent user experience. Only limited typesaccounts can be opened online, and in some cases, new customers cannotopen accounts online at all.

Thus, there is a need in the art for systems and methods, for examplefor account opening, that support both flexibility and globalconsistency. Such systems and methods can address the above problems,standardizing processes for an enhanced customer experience and reducingneed for IT support and other development resources.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides, in alternative embodiments, computersystems and computer implemented methods for account opening. Using anintegrated, component-based technology platform, globally standardized,business configurable account opening processes are coded in the coreseparate/decoupled from the user interface screens and are manageable bybusiness staff without IT intervention. The processes are preferably thesame for all channels, and have save and retrieve/pause and resumecapabilities for continuation on any channel. Channels are coordinated,and increased use of lower cost channels is supported.

The framework of the present invention provides flexibility for abusiness to move different components (groups of functionalcapabilities) within the process sequence. The framework also providesfor customization capabilities to meet local and regionallegislation/regulations as well as global business criteria. Rules aremanaged by the business, there is a greater response to business needsand shortened cycle times, rules and processes may be reused acrossproducts, functions, and geographies, and processes can be rapidlychampioned/challenged to optimize user experience. Thus, anorganization's global footprint, economies of scale, and local expertisecan all be leveraged for the benefit of customers globally.

In one aspect the invention provides a computer system architecturedecoupling the user interface from an underlying computer executedprocess for opening an account for a customer. The computer systemarchitecture includes a front end user interface platform capturingapplication data and including at least one business interface receivinglocal business specifications for at least one of application dataelements and account opening processes performed by, and decoupled from,predetermined application specific core systems. The computer systemalso includes an application processing platform accessing configurablebusiness rules and comprising an application processing engineperforming straight-through processing of the application data includingmanaging the validation of the user, managing the configuring of atleast one product, managing the assembling of terms and conditionsrelevant to the at least one product selected, managing the decisioningof the application, and transmitting the processed application data.

The computer architecture further includes a customer communicationsmodule managing the generating and sending of customer communicationsdocuments; a queue management system supporting queues on theapplication data outside of the straight-through processing; a fundingmodule comprising a payment processing engine executing at least one ofan account funding instruction and a fee instruction.

The computer architecture still further includes a plurality of coresystems comprising a customer data management system storing customerdata, a decision engine decisioning the application, a cards productsystem supporting one or more card products, a core banking productsystem supporting deposit accounts, and a sales services system managingcustomer interactions, said plurality of core systems operativelycommunicating with said customer communications module via at least onecore system interface protocol.

In another aspect, the invention provides an end-to-end component basedglobal computer system architecture decoupling the user interface froman underlying computer executed process, comprising a globallyconsistent front end user interface platform capturing application dataand including at least one processing module defining at least one ofapplication data elements and process flow instructions responsive toand decoupled from predetermined application specific core systems; aglobally consistent application processing platform accessingconfigurable business rules and comprising an application processingengine processing the application data including managing the validationof the user, managing the configuring of at least one product, managingthe assembling of terms and conditions relevant to the at least oneproduct selected, managing the decisioning of the application, andtransmitting the processed application data; a globally consistentcustomer communications module managing the generating and sending ofcustomer communications documents; a globally consistent queuemanagement system supporting queues processes that utilize theapplication data; a globally consistent funding module comprising apayment processing engine executing at least one of an account fundinginstruction and a fee instruction; and a plurality of core systemscomprising a customer data management system storing customer data, adecision engine decisioning the application, a cards product systemsupporting one or more card products, a core banking product systemsupporting deposit accounts, and a sales services system managingcustomer interactions, said plurality of core systems operativelycommunicating with said globally consistent customer communicationsmodule via at least one core system interface protocol.

In one or more embodiments, the front end user interface platformprovides the same process flow instructions responsive to thepredetermined application specific core systems for the life of theapplication.

In some embodiments, front end user interface platform is segmented intomultiple portlets that are chained together to create a configurablejourney with respect to a predetermined application of at least one ofthe application specific core systems.

In certain embodiments, front end user interface platform executes, incooperation with said globally consistent application processingplatform, one or more of the following use-cases, including: presentproduct; request statements; request ATM card; maintain involved party;validate identity through third party systems; validate identity; acceptterms and conditions; execute funding; retrieve and action decision;save application; retrieve application; search application; openaccount; activate account; archive application; and maintainapplication.

In some embodiments, the computer architecture further comprises userinterfaces including components, content, and links. The components maybe further broken down into data structures, layout includingattributes, view components, links and validation rules for individualfields within the component. The content provides defined content, thelinks enable the user to perform actions, and the view components aredeployable as the content. Thus, the front end user interface platformprovides flexibility when interfacing with the user interface.

In some embodiments, the application processing platform including theapplication processing engine processes application data received fromboth internal and external sources, packages at least a part of theapplication data and transmits the packaged data to a decisioningsystem, and analyzes the application data to generate a set ofdecisions.

In further embodiments, the application processing platform includingthe application processing engine tracks the application processes,provides a status of all applications, and tracks historic activity.

In still further embodiments, application processing platform includingthe application processing engine executes one or more of the followingprocesses: saves the applications each time the application processingengine is called; enables the applications to be retrieved usingpredetermined application data; enables a search operation to beinitiated to search for existing applications to continue theapplication process; enables the suspending of the applications andrestarting of the applications; and interfaces with the applicationswithout being dependent on application specific interfaces.

In some embodiments, application processing platform controls theapplication processes, centrally tracks the application processes,centrally stores the application data, and interfaces with supportingsystems and queue management.

In certain embodiments, the application processing platform centrallystores the application data including reference data comprising staticvalues used by at least one of said plurality of core systems.

In certain embodiments application processing engine interacts withsub-system applications in their native form, without being dependent onapplication-specific interfaces.

In various embodiments, the application processing platform includingthe application processing engine performs at least one of the followingfunctions comprising: duplicate data at point of application from one ormore sub-systems to maintain an enduring application system of record;call other systems using fixed format messaging or service contracts;perform business configurable actions as part of a macro serviceoperation; perform macro services based on one or more of entity ID,channel ID, product group ID, and business process ID; transmit anapplication ID, reason code, and entity ID to the queue managementsystem; and initiate request to add one or more customer, account, orembosser records in the cards product system.

In some embodiments, the application processing platform including theapplication processing engine comprises one or more of the followingcapabilities: application and product breakdown; determine or designatestatuses including at least one of up sell, down sell, and cross sell;bundle product applications; multi-product applications; multi-partyapplications; single applications; service configuration; entityextension; progress logging; support; reports; and system maintenance.

In certain embodiments, the application processing platform includingthe application processing engine automatically maintains the state ofthe application and products within the application; enables theapplication process to be paused and resumed; and enables theapplication to be saved and retrieved in the same or a different channelto continue the application process.

In certain embodiments, customer communications histories and pointersto application data including document ID, timestamp, and basic dataelements are stored in the application processing platform, andtemplates are stored in a business development environment, for at leastone of assembling and generating a customer communications document bythe customer communications module.

In some embodiments, the computer architecture further comprisesbusiness processes separate from screens and manageable by businessstaff, said business processes and screens configurable by the businessin any order.

In some embodiments, the computer architecture further comprises anautomated agent running using background processes and interrogatingsystems enabling at least one of aging of applications off the globalcomputer system and the queues, sending one or more customercommunications, and escalating problems.

In some embodiments, the application processing engine further enablescross channel capability, enabling the application processes to bestarted, paused and restarted by a plurality of at least one ofdifferent users and processes.

In another aspect, the invention provides global computer systemarchitecture decoupling the user interface from underlying businessconfigurable computer executed processes, comprising a front end userinterface platform capturing application data and providing a flexibleand dynamic sequence of screens responsive to configurable businessrules coded in the core separate from the screens and manageable bybusiness staff; an application processing platform containing theconfigurable business rules and comprising an application processingengine controlling the application processes, centrally tracking theapplication processes, centrally storing the application data, andcoordinating the interaction of a plurality of core supporting systemsincluding a customer communications module generating, managing, anddelivering customer communications documents based on the applicationdata and business configurable templates; a customer data managementsystem storing customer data; a cards product system supporting one ormore card products; a core banking product system supporting depositaccounts; a sales services system managing customer interactions; and adecision engine decisioning the application, said plurality of coresystems operatively communicating with the application processingplatform via at least one core system interface protocol without beingdependent on application specific interfaces; a queue management systemsupporting queues for exception processing; and a funding modulecomprising a payment processing engine executing at least one accountfunding, fee, or balance transfer instruction.

In yet another aspect, the invention provides a computer implementedmethod for opening an account for a customer and decoupling the userinterface from an underlying computer executed process, comprisingcapturing application data and including at least one business interfacereceiving local business specifications for at least one of applicationdata elements and account opening processes performed by, and decoupledfrom, predetermined application specific core systems; accessingconfigurable business rules and performing straight-through processingof the application data including managing the validation of the user,managing the configuring of at least one product, managing theassembling of terms and conditions relevant to the at least one productselected, managing the decisioning of the application, and transmittingthe processed application data; managing, and storing customercommunications documents; managing queues on the application dataoutside of the straight-through processing; executing at least one of anaccount funding instruction and a fee instruction; and storing customerdata, decisioning the application, supporting one or more card products,supporting deposit accounts, managing customer interactions, andoperatively communicating with the customer using at least one coresystem interface protocol.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary diagram of the Account Opening (AO) Milestonesaccording to some embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 2-4 show exemplary scenarios for the account opening processaccording to some embodiments, illustrating the flexibility provided bythe invention.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic of exemplary milestones and how they can, insome embodiments, use various external resources to interface withdifferent applications.

FIG. 6 shows the architecture of an exemplary embodiment of the AccountOpening System.

FIG. 7 illustrates the components of the Product Selection milestoneaccording to some embodiments.

FIGS. 8-12 are flow diagrams showing exemplary user interactionprocesses within the Product Selection milestone.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary process for a new customer through anInternet Channel.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary process for a new customer through aBranch/Call Center Channel.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary process for an existing customerthrough an Internet Channel.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary process for using hurdle questions.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary process of Cross Sell/Up Sell/Down Sellopportunities.

FIG. 13 shows an overview of an exemplary process of activities withinthe Product Selection milestone.

FIG. 14 illustrates the components of the Gather Application Datamilestone according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 15 and 16 are flow diagrams showing exemplary Gather ApplicationData scenarios (staff and online channels, respectively) in whichcustomer information can be displayed as customer profile and/or as partof the application form.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing one example of how a multiple product jointapplication can be processed.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing exemplary requirements to validate identityfor new versus existing customers.

FIG. 19 illustrates exemplary components of the Validate Identitymilestone.

FIG. 20 shows a diagram of the various levels of configuration availablefor validation.

FIG. 21 illustrates exemplary components of the Terms and Conditionsmilestone in an exemplary relationship to other account openingmilestones.

FIG. 22 shows an overview of an exemplary process of activities withinthe Terms and Conditions milestone.

FIGS. 23-25 illustrate exemplary user interactions with the system forTerms and Conditions.

FIGS. 23 and 24 are process diagrams showing exemplary Terms andConditions scenarios when a wet signature is/is not required.

FIG. 25 is a process diagram showing exemplary Terms and Conditionsscenarios for different customer channels.

FIG. 26 shows an exemplary diagram overview of the Decision process.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing exemplary local entity decision systems.

FIG. 28 is an exemplary illustration of the relationship of theConfigure Product and Product Selection milestones, and how theyoptionally interact with other milestones.

FIG. 29 illustrates the components of the Configure Product milestoneaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating the Funding process according to someembodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 31-33 are flow diagrams illustrating exemplary scenarios for SaveApplication functionality for existing customers with/without securitycredentials validated, and new customers, respectively.

FIG. 34 is an exemplary diagram illustrating the Retrieve Applicationprocess.

FIG. 35 shows exemplary outbound customer communication processes.

FIGS. 36-37 are exemplary process diagrams for Send New Communication(Straight Through Processing) and Create/Modify Template functions.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing an exemplary architecture of the AccountOpening System according to some embodiments.

FIG. 39 is a diagram showing an exemplary physical architecture of theAccount Opening System.

FIG. 40 shows an exemplary logical view of the front end (FE or F/E)user interface (UI).

FIG. 41 illustrates an exemplary physical architecture of the front endaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 42 is an exemplary diagram of front end portlets that may bechained together in various ways to create a flexible user journey.

FIG. 43 is an exemplary diagram of a public parameter interceptor thatenables collaboration of multiple portlets within a single portal.

FIG. 44 is an exemplary diagram of a navigation rule processor logic.

FIG. 45 is an exemplary diagram showing communication between portlets,including, for example, a Product Selection portlet on the channel sideand Gather Application Data, Validate Identity, and Terms and Conditionsportlets on the account opening side.

FIG. 46 shows an exemplary logical diagram of the Application ProcessingEngine (APe).

FIG. 47 shows exemplary logical functions for a batch process, whichidentifies applications pending for an extended period and triggersentity required activities.

FIG. 48 shows an exemplary physical architecture for APe.

FIG. 49 is an exemplary illustration of a Cards product system.

FIG. 50 is an exemplary diagram illustrating use of Reference/Productdata.

FIGS. 51-53 are exemplary diagrams illustrating use of BusinessIntelligence (BI) systems.

FIG. 54 is an exemplary diagram illustrating Management Information (MI)data elements sourced from multiple components within AO.

FIG. 55 is an exemplary real-time topology diagram of the IntegratedCustomer Communications Module (ICCM).

FIG. 56 is an exemplary illustration of the ICCM supporting batchprocessing.

FIGS. 57-59 are exemplary diagrams of Queue Management System (QMS) andWorkflow Services (WFS) integration.

FIG. 60 is an exemplary diagram of Payment Processing Engine (PPE)interactions with the system to support Funding.

FIG. 61 is an exemplary diagram illustrating the Error Handling process.

FIG. 62 is an exemplary logical deployment diagram for account opening,in which Customer Data Management (CDM) has primary responsibility forcustomer data.

FIG. 63 is an exemplary diagram that is a variant of FIG. 62, showing anexemplary configuration in which HSBC Universal Banking (HUB) hasprimary responsibility for the customer data.

FIG. 64 shows an exemplary Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)architecture of the Account Opening system.

FIG. 65 illustrates exemplary batch links within Account Opening.

FIG. 66 illustrates various types of alternative entity extensionssupported by the Account Opening system and process to meet localdeployment needs.

FIG. 67 is an exemplary data summary showing AO system interfaces withvarious Bank components.

FIG. 68 illustrates an exemplary data manipulation process, in whichcodes are converted at the presentation layers (FE and ICCM components).

FIG. 69 is an exemplary diagram of the AO system supporting varyingdefinitions of data, such as data field lengths. The left-hand sideshows exemplary field sizes supported by the AO framework, while theright-hand side reflects a local entity implementation.

FIGS. 70-77 illustrate exemplary architecture use cases.

FIG. 70 is an exemplary end to end system interaction diagram of asingle application for a demand deposit account for a new to bankcustomer.

FIG. 71 is an exemplary end to end system interaction diagram of asingle application for a term deposit account for a new to bankcustomer.

FIG. 72 is an exemplary end to end system interaction diagram of asingle application for a credit card account for a new to bank customer.

FIG. 73 is an exemplary end to end system interaction diagram of asingle application for a demand deposit account for an existing bankcustomer.

FIG. 74 is an exemplary end to end system interaction diagram of a jointapplication for a demand deposit account where the primary applicant isa new to bank customer.

FIG. 75 is an exemplary end to end system interaction diagram of a jointapplication for a demand deposit account where the secondary applicantis a new to bank customer.

FIG. 76 is an exemplary end to end system interaction diagramillustrating account funding from a new external account.

FIG. 77 is an exemplary end to end system interaction diagramillustrating account funding from an internal account transfer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, itis to be understood that the invention is not limited in its applicationto the details of construction and to the arrangements of the componentsset forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings.The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced andcarried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that thephraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception,upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basisfor the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carryingout the several purposes of the present invention. It is important,therefore, that the invention be regarded as including equivalentconstructions to those described herein insofar as they do not departfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

For example, the specific sequence of the described process may bealtered so that certain processes are conducted in parallel orindependent, with other processes, to the extent that the processes arenot dependent upon each other. Thus, the specific order of stepsdescribed herein is not to be considered implying a specific sequence ofsteps to perform the process. In alternative embodiments, one or moreprocess steps may be implemented by a user assisted process and/ormanually. Other alterations or modifications of the above processes arealso contemplated. For example, further insubstantial approximations ofthe process and/or algorithms are also considered within the scope ofthe processes described herein.

In addition, features illustrated or described as part of one embodimentcan be used on other embodiments to yield a still further embodiment.Additionally, certain features may be interchanged with similar devicesor features not mentioned yet which perform the same or similarfunctions. It is therefore intended that such modifications andvariations are included within the totality of the present invention.

OVERVIEW

The present invention provides, in alternative embodiments, computersystems and computer implemented methods for account opening.Specifically, various embodiments describing a computer systemarchitecture for account opening, and methods of implementing thatarchitecture, are provided.

The Account Opening system may advantageously be used to supportmultiple customer segments as well as staff users, including but notlimited to the following: Personal Financial Services (PFS) and RetailCommercial Business (CMB) Customers; New and Existing Customers; StaffChannel Users (e.g., branch or call center staff); Internet ChannelUsers; and Management and Analytics (Metrics/Business Intelligence).

In some embodiments, the underlying technology platform supports theimplementation of a common process while also supporting localvariations. Preferably, the framework and/or architecture provides forcustomization capabilities to meet local and regionallegislation/regulations without changing the spirit of the process. Thisframework allows for quick time to market of new products whileenforcing policies and processes.

The systems and methods of the invention are simple and intuitive,guiding the customer to product information, through productapplications, to fulfilment with ease, providing any guidance requiredalong the journey, without the customer having to deviate from theapplication process. In some embodiments, the invention minimizes oreliminates the need for user manuals that new staff would normally useto learn about systems, as well as the need for referrals to staff tofollow up manually.

Preferably, decisions to approve or reject product applications are madeinstantly. In some embodiments, the customer can open the product(s)they want on their first contact with the organization. In variousembodiments, credit risk, fraud, and/or compliance rulers may beautomated, with minimal or no manual intervention.

The invention supports Straight Through Processing (STP), streamliningprocesses and pursuing completion of all steps associated to an accountopening session in the same “session.” In some cases, new to bankcustomers can be boarded in less than 10 minutes, as opposed to 7-10days, using existing methods/systems.

Herein, the terms business and entity are used interchangeably. Abusiness or entity may be part of a larger organization. For example, abusiness or entity may be at a particular site of larger organizationsuch as a bank, financial institution and/or other type of company ororganization.

Examples herein refer mostly to finance; however the systems and methodsof the invention may be used in other applications and/or fields.

In some embodiments, the computer system architecture supports multiplechannels (staff and customer, with configurable differences), forexample Internet, Branch, Call Center, and Kiosk, as well as multipleback-end systems of similar and/or different types. Differences betweencustomer and staff applications for the same function are minimized, orpreferably eliminated. For example, where the staff channel may requireextra functionality, it may be controlled through entitlements, keepingthe common functionality the same. In some embodiments the inventionalso advantageously supports cross-channel applications.

Preferably, the invention supports customer Self Service 24/7, allowingthe customer to do business with the organization whenever they want to,and emphasizing the benefits and ease of using self-service channelsahead of staff channels. In some embodiments, features developed toenhance the customer self-service experience may, for example, also beused in the staff facing channels with minimal or, preferably, nochange.

Preferably, the invention provides save and retrieve capabilities forcontinuation across any channel.

The architecture/framework supporting the processes of the inventionprovides flexibility to move different components within one or moreprocess sequences. As defined by the business, components are groupingsof functional capabilities, such as Order Check Book.

In some embodiments, the invention is green, thus reducing cost andenvironmental waste. In other words, the systems and methods of theinvention, for example, do not require the customer to complete anypaper-based applications, do not issue a paper-based welcome pack,empower the customer to download and save relevant product information,send information by e-mail, etc. ‘Paperless’ solutions are implementedwhere possible.

In some embodiments, the systems and methods support multiple productsin multiple lines of business of an organization. For a financialorganization, products may include, for example, Savings, Checking, TermDeposits, Overdraft, Credit Cards, Amanah (for Islamic banking), BundledProducts, Premier, Secure Card, and Select Credit. Non-limiting examplesof lines of business include Personal Financial Services (PFS) andRetail Commercial Business (CMB). Auxiliary services may include, forexample, Debit/ATM Card Ordering, Check Book Ordering, Funding of newAccount, and Metrics/BI.

The customer can select options to include with ‘base’ products toenable customization and personalization of products. In someembodiments, the customer may be given the ability to select multipleproducts for opening in one instance.

The customer may be new or existing. The system is not required presenta list of existing accounts when an existing customer proceeds to open anew account.

The customer may apply to open a sole or joint/multi-party account. Themaximum number of joint applicants is preferably configurable based onthe host system boundaries.

The Components of the invention provide a ‘capability’ or set ofcapabilities that businesses need to control or manage to operate theirTarget Business Model (TBM). These capabilities are not limited to asingle product, customer segment or business. A component is highlyconfigurable to meet multiple business needs and a wide variety offunctions.

Components are characterized in that they: are built and deployed to aconsistent design philosophy; have globally aligned usage; are ofsufficient scope to be recognized by business and IT; operate in essenceas a black box; can be improved independently of other components; andare governed by a design license process.

In one or more embodiments, components provided include: Orchestration(Common Processing Services CPS/Application Processing Engine APe),Metrics, Identity and Validation, Audit Capabilities, Communications,Queuing and Work Presentment, Decisioning, Front End Channel Framework,Entitlements, and Payments.

In some embodiments of the invention, the invention advantageouslyprovides integrated systems and methods that give a business theopportunity to make their own changes/specifications to the accountopening process and technology, without going to Information Technology(IT) for resources or deployments to support the changes. The abilityfor business users to manage on-screen, page, communications and systemcontent to make updates or changes to verbiage and design new pages orscreens without using IT programming resources is provided. This canenable greater response to business needs and shorter cycle times, aswell as lower costs of development and deployments. Front endcapabilities allow journeys to be assembled and tailored based, forexample, on proposition, channel, and local variances (e.g., languagepreferences or regulatory and cultural requirements).

Using an integrated, component-based technology platform, globallystandardized, business configurable account opening processes are codedin the core separate from (e.g., are decoupled from) the user interfacescreens and are manageable by business staff without IT intervention.

The systems and methods of the present invention, while described in thecontext of use with Account Opening (AO), may also be used by otherareas, such as Account Servicing, and by other parts of theorganization, such as Insurance, Lending, Private Bank, etc.

The invention works to standardize content and journeys across theorganization while accommodating variances in local processes.

Standardization of solutions and the components that are used to supportthe solutions can significantly reduce the range of duplication ineffort expended on a Group wide basis. Wherever possible, corecomponents are re-used using configuration to support a wide range ofpropositions and services. Business rules and processes can beconfigured and shared across products, services, channels andgeographies. This permits the definition of a process to take place onceand be leveraged repeatedly.

Front End capabilities provide a flexible presentation layer of AOfunctions and components. The front end allows for tailored screens andcontent management to enable reuse and standardization. Preferredjourneys may be created for different channels, products, and entities.By leveraging a common front-end, the organization can test, learn andshare best practices among entities, saving costs by not reinventing thewheel. If business rules change, or the business wants to‘champion/challenge’ a process, it can do so through a simple, businessmaintainable configuration that does not require recoding.

Success in one entity can be replicated in a cost effective mannerquickly across a group using a single standard ‘Foundation’ set of AOtechnologies coupled with standard processes. In effect all areoperating in the same way and so the incremental change is fullyunderstood and can be measured and applied rapidly.

Where propositions and business processes are being updated, the designand qualities are held to a set of target design principles. Theseinclude multi-channel capabilities where the consumer is offered ajoined up experience regardless of which channels they use to managetheir relationship with the bank.

An additional aspect of flexibility of the present invention involvesthe support for local specific and/or custom data elements. The AOsystem provides the ability for business defined data elements to bepassed to the AO system. These fields may be utilized by business orregulatory purposes that are not required at the global level. If anelement is deemed to be globally applicable, it may added to the AOsystem.

In some embodiments, the flexibility of the present invention allowsbusiness users to move components around into favored flows, dependingon the local business preferred conditions, with minimal turn-aroundtime and without direct IT intervention.

In some embodiments, components may be delivered on a regional basis.Regional business teams may assemble the components to deliver astandard business process with the flexibility to adjust the flows basedupon regional regulatory or cultural differences. This re-assembly, whencoupled with out-of-box metrics, can enable rapid business optimization,which accelerates profit growth.

Each country or region can migrate to the complete AO system over aseries of steps. This means that a country can take a sub-set of thefeatures and processes and implement them alongside legacy solutions.Components should be built with little dependency on each other. Thisprovides a reduced change investment while generating initial benefits.

In summary, the invention provides a set of business-designed commontechnology components that can support any business propositionrequirement or customer experience. As work streams progress, moreassets may added to the global business functions. Similarly, the globalcomponents may need enhancing to support new unique requirements as thework streams develop. The result is a set of configurable standardcomponents and business functions that can be re-used for more and morepurposes. World class processes, customer experience, customer service,and features can beneficially be achieved independently in each entity.

Milestones

The Account Opening process comprises one or more steps, also referredto herein as activities or milestones. As used herein, milestone is aterm that is used to describe a distinct area of functionality withinaccount opening. For instance, Gather Application Data is the milestonecovering the functionality related to the gathering of all data requiredto support a customer application to open a new account. Within a givenMilestone, the functionality may be further split into components.

The following eight AO Milestones capture the core exemplarycapabilities provided by the Account Opening invention according to someembodiments. These milestones are shown schematically in FIG. 1.

Gather Application Data

-   -   Gathering and capturing applicant's details    -   Involves searching for customer data, invoking the creation of        prospects where needed, as well as capturing application details

Validate Identity

-   -   Verification of prospective or existing customers; may involve        external systems

Decision

-   -   Ability to interface with decisioning systems in order to review        customer/product acquisitions    -   Ability to approve/decline or underwrite customer/product        acquisitions

Terms and Conditions

-   -   Includes retrieval and presentment of Terms and Conditions and        Disclosures, passive/non-passive acceptance of these articles,        and communication (including printing) if required

Product Selection

-   -   Selecting a product that the customer wishes to open

Configure Product

-   -   Captures details required to configure selected products (as        input to the fulfilment Milestone)

Funding

-   -   The ability to fund the new account, either by internal or        external sources, including cash, check, and credit card funding

Boarding and Fulfilment

-   -   The process of boarding an account in the appropriate product        system and generating the fulfilment materials for a new        account, such as generating Internet Banking credentials,        ordering OTP tokens, generating Telephone Banking credentials,        ordering Debit cards, etc.

Preferably milestones may be arranged in any order and can be utilizedin multiple flows. In practice, some milestones may have one or moreentry criteria (e.g., a mandate that a specific event/state is achieved)that limit its ability to be moved within the process (e.g., a usercannot select product options until they've been offered productoptions). However, as long as the exit criteria for the precedingmilestone and the entry criteria for moved milestone are met, it is avalid change.

A milestone may be satisfied either directly or may require a newbusiness process to be initiated. This sub-flow may be synchronous ormay be allowed to run in parallel.

Each milestone frames a discrete area of account opening functionalityand within this, the milestones are further split into “components”. Thecomponents are the more granular, lower level parts that enable theaccount opening process to run from end-to-end.

Components do not necessarily belong explicitly to a single milestone,as they are distinct services that perform functions that may happen indifferent parts of the process or maybe even in separate work streamsoutside of account opening.

In some embodiments, global configurable standard components andbusiness functions may include one or more of: business configurationdata, customer data, identity and validation, communications, auditcapabilities, metrics, payments, queuing and work presentment, front-endchannel framework, orchestration (CPS) decisioning, entitlements, and ITdeveloper platform (e.g., R2 and Gold stacks).

In one aspect, the power of the component framework lies not in what thecomponents do individually, but in how they can work together. Forexample, in the process flow to View and Accept Terms and Conditions,several components are assembled to create a process flow for customersto view and accept a newly changed or updated account agreement orpolicy agreement. Exemplary process flow steps may be as follows, withcomponent invoked indicated in parentheses: Staff or customer clicks on‘Save Application’ button during the middle of an AO journey (FrontEnd); Save and Retrieve service is run (CPS/APe); Retrieval code isgenerated (CPS); Communication request is sent (CPS); Communication isdelivered by email (Communications); Customer receives email and followsinstructions to retrieve application, accessing saved application byentering code on screen (Front End); Customer authenticates (ID&V);Customer completes the process flow (CPS and Front End).

The milestones are the ‘building blocks’ of the account opening process,and they can be presented in whichever order the entity requires. Theorder may be different for each product or channel.

It is within the account opening milestones that these components arebeing identified, but their scope is not limited to account opening, asthere may be a number of use opportunities identified elsewhere. Forexample, there is a component of AO called Order Check Book, which isconsidered a component of Configure Product. This function could also beused, for example, in account servicing, if an existing customer were tophone up and request a check book on an existing account. Anotherexample is the Bank-to-Bank transfer function when funding a newaccount. This functionality could also be used, for example, in accountservicing. Ability for re-use in other areas outside of account openingis a feature of these component functions.

A degree of flexibility is built into the positioning of the componentsin the account opening end-to-end process to allow different entities toarrange components into different flows, depending on local businesspractice/knowledge.

The flexibility of the application preferably allows Business users tomove components around into favored flows, depending on the localBusiness preferred conditions. The milestones (steps) of a journey willusually be presented sequentially. However, preferably the inventionprovides an ability to access any milestone from any other milestone,enabling non-sequential navigation. The organization/entity has theability to create the links and rules that take the user from milestoneto milestone depending on user selection and/or user input.

In some embodiments, the invention provides for “Test and Learn”scenarios, whereby different approaches may be tested, for example tosee which flow produces the best sales conversions/results, so thatprocesses are fine-tuned to maximize potential sales.

If an issue is unresolved when the application is submitted, theapplication may be pended and enter the queuing process.

The following scenarios are some examples of the kind of flexibilitythat the invention provides. They are, however, just examples; manyother permutations are possible. Preferably the Business is given thetools to allow them to maintain this flexibility themselves.

-   -   Example Scenario 1: This example, shown schematically in FIG. 2,        depicts part of an account opening process rather than the whole        process from beginning end, just to give an example of the        concepts of components being discussed. In other words, part of        a process is presented as an example to show, in comparison to        later scenarios, the flexibility of the AO process. For        instance, Example Scenario 1 does not show any components in        relation to the Decision milestone. In FIG. 2, the following        steps are shown:    -   Product options are offered to the user    -   The user selects the product options    -   Terms and Conditions will be displayed to the user    -   The user accepts the terms and conditions    -   Funding options are offered to the user    -   The user selects funding options (e.g. Bank to Bank Transfer)    -   The user records the bank to bank transfer details    -   The account is opened

In addition to the above steps, other actions may occur in each scenario(e.g., Gather Applicant Data, Validate ID, Decision andFulfilment-related actions), but to keep the diagrams simpler and inorder to explain the concept, the actions have been limited to thoselisted for comparison purposes.

-   -   Example Scenario 2: An entity somewhere else in the group might        have a local practice, regulation or they may just wish to test        a different flow that means they wish to change the order of        these components. This could lead to the first scenario being        altered, for example as shown in FIG. 3. In this scenario, a        number of components have been moved and changed position in the        flow but it still allows an account to be opened successfully.        So the new flow becomes:    -   Product options are offered to the user    -   The user selects the product options    -   Funding options are offered to the user    -   The user selects funding options (e.g. Bank to Bank Transfer)    -   The user records the bank to bank transfer details    -   Terms and Conditions will be displayed to the user    -   The account is opened    -   The user accepts the terms and conditions (this could come after        the account is opened in the case where a business line is using        passive acceptance of T&C's. For instance, the customer using        the account for the first time could have been presented to the        user in the Display Terms and Conditions component as indicating        acceptance of the T&C's)

This degree of flexibility allows the business to test differentscenarios to understand the impact they have on the sales process, whichin turn allows them to modify the flow, for example to enhance thecustomer experience and maximize sales conversions.

In addition, in some embodiments, it is also possible for a component toappear more than once in the same flow. For instance, after a decisionis made on a product, a cross sale opportunity may occur and thecustomer is given the option to select (and configure) other products.As shown in Example Scenario 3 (FIG. 4), in this example the flow up tothe first Open Account is the same as for the example scenario shown inFIG. 2. At this point a cross sale opportunity may have occurred andfurther products are offered to the user. So, some of the componentsappear in the flow again after the cross sale is identified. Anotherproduct is offered and selected, this has product options offered andselected, there may be additional terms and conditions that apply to thenew product which have to be displayed and accepted before the secondaccount is opened.

Cross sell opportunities may occur in various locations within theaccount opening process. The maximum number of cross sell optionsprovided during a single session are preferably definable by thebusiness.

There is no set flow to the account opening proposition and there arepotentially many scenarios for customer journeys possible. The businesscan assemble the components in any order and re-use them in other areasbesides account opening.

As shown schematically in FIG. 5, many different external systems canprovide input for the Account Opening milestones.

Architecture

In some embodiments, there are six core technical components thatprovide the technical foundation for the invention, shown schematicallyin FIG. 6 and described below. However, the core technical componentsare not limited to the number and functions described below.

Exemplary use cases of the Account Opening system include, but are notlimited to: present product; request statements; request ATM card;maintain involved party; validate identity (internally or through thirdparty systems); accept terms and conditions; execute funding; retrieveand action decision; save application; retrieve application; searchapplication; open account; activate account; archive application; andmaintain application.

-   -   Front End. The Account Opening front end (FE or F/E) leverages        the capabilities provided by the system, including a portal        server, and Business Development Environment (BDE). The BDE is        an environment where the businesses manage/control changes to        processes and technology without requiring IT support. The        business has the flexibility to manage on-screen, page,        communications, and system content to make updates or changes to        verbiage and design new pages or screens, etc. Due to the low        risk nature of these changes, business control of the change is        accepted.

In some embodiments, the front end includes the use of an industrystandard User Interface component model, a new framework fororchestrating page flows, and the leverage of a native Websphere PortalServer (WPS) capabilities for macro-entitlements and connectingportlets. In instances where native WP capabilities are leveraged, thesystem is preferably configured so as not to be bound to a particularvendor or portal release. In this instance, entitlements do not requireany coding but rather leverage out of the box capability that isresident in such a tool. Portlets that are constructed to beorchestrated by the business can sit beside any other portal content.

The front-end orchestration framework is intended to work closely with aComposite Service. The Application Process engine (APe) is an instanceof a Composite Service that implements the Account Opening businessprocess. The combination of the front-end orchestration framework andAPe works in conjunction to satisfy the overarching business processwith the FE providing the Human Interaction elements of the businessflow and APe implementing the systematic elements of the businessprocess as well as providing the state management of the overallprocess.

The system provides a mechanism for defining multiple flows. It alsoprovides a mechanism for tracking metrics regarding the humaninteraction. This information is captured (e.g., by Webtrends) and fedinto the Business Intelligence (BI) environment.

During interactions with the APe, the FE can save the state of the humaninteraction. Once a journey has been started for a given application,APe will retain the state and if the process is resumed in anotherchannel, the framework can pick up where the customer left off.

The content and fields as well as the flow of the pages are businessconfigurable and align with the APe configuration.

-   -   Application Processing Engine. The Application Processing Engine        (APe) or Common Processing Service (CPS) is an instance of a        Composite Service that implements the Account Opening business        process. The Composite Service works in conjunction with the        front-end (FE) orchestration framework to provide support for        business process orchestration.

In some embodiments, APe manages the Account Opening process from theinitiation of all application through boarding of the account and insome instances post-boarding processes such as funding an account. Thus,throughout the lifecycle, APe maintains the state of the application,the state of the AO process and maintains metrics that are fed to theBusiness Intelligence (BI) system.

In some embodiments, APe determines the Macro Business Serviceoperations required to open-an account, and executes any number ofsub-services to fulfill each Macro Service operation. APe is preferablythe system of record for the application data, and knows the status andsteps involved in processing the application. Preferably, the flow ofthe business process is business configurable and aligns with the FEconfiguration.

-   -   Integrated Customer Communications Manager. In some embodiments,        to streamline communications with the customer and facilitate        migration to lower cost channels, the Integrated Customer        Communications Manager (ICCM) acts as a layer between an        application system and the communication systems.

The ICCM communications manager comprises, for example, a requestlistener, a controller and a message broker. In some embodiments, ICCMmanages requests for document creation by sending them to multi-channelcommunications systems for composition and delivery. Delivery channelssupported by ICCM for Account Opening may include, but are not limitedto, print, email, secure email, SMS, and PDF/HTML for internet.

Document templates may be managed using BDE-based content repositories.Business users can manage communications content directly throughrepository changes.

In some embodiments, customer communication histories are maintained andoptionally combined with a central Contact History database. As with theother components, metrics are preferably captured and stored within theBusiness Intelligence (BI) environment.

-   -   Metrics and Business Intelligence. A core concept of Account        Opening is the implementation of a comprehensive metrics        environment, tracking metrics regarding the human interaction.        The data collected may provide the business with insight into a        number of areas, for example, consumer behavior and program        effectiveness, and may provide empirical measurement of        activity. To achieve this, the BI systems are used, for example        data feeds to BI and Webtrends, capturing customer experience        activities.

In some embodiments, to increase the amount of Account Opening that is“out-of-the-box”, BI may define data feeds specific for AO, as well asthe necessary reports to review this data. One purpose for the AOspecific feed is to allow the Account Opening metrics to be utilized bya site that does not yet have a full BI solution in place. Localentities currently may have varying data structures and ManagementIntelligence (MI) solutions that would negatively impact the ability toeasily plug in AO related BI details.

In preferred embodiments, metrics capabilities support the optimizationof marketing, sales, process, and performance by capturing data at allpoints of an end to end journey, and providing a single version of truthfor distribution metrics globally. Metrics can align to commercialsuccess benchmarks (CSBs) and business transformation key performanceindicators (KPIs) for benefit tracking.

-   -   Funding. Preferably, the invention increases the amount of        straight-through-processing (STP) and increases activation rates        for new accounts. To facilitate this objective, the invention        provides functionality for capturing funding instructions. For        example, in some embodiments, the AO process has a step to fund        the accounts from existing customer accounts in local and        foreign currencies. External transfers and bookable foreign        exchange rates may also be part of the AO functionality. This        payment functionality preferably extends to support all        servicing payment functions post account opening.    -   Queue Management. Preferably, the invention minimizes or        eliminates exception processes in which a customer cannot reach        the end of their application journey at first contact. If a        customer encounters an issue during their application journey,        preferably they can still continue, for example, with immediate        assistance from a staff channel, a temporary save of the        application, progression to fulfilment with restrictions, etc.        However, there may be instances in the AO process where there is        a need to more closely scrutinize an application or an        applicant. Thus in some embodiments of the invention, when        applications are flagged for additional review, they are viewed        through the Queue Management System (QMS).

Preferably, the creation of queues and the rules for populating them areconfigurable. In some embodiments, all management of user groups, queuesand work assignments internally with QMS are defined by QMS.

In some embodiments, the AO system supports the ability to ‘plug into’any existing host system. All business/validation rules that exist inthe back end (BE) systems are preferably not replicated on the front end(FE); however, exceptions may be made in cases where the Business DesignTeam feels that specific business/validation rules should exist on theFE.

Milestone Specifications Product Selection

In some embodiments, the customer is provided with a list of relevantproducts based on preferences/needs, and receives a selection of one ormultiple products for account opening. The list of products may be afull list of products or may incorporate, for example, an externalapplication to filter options based on hurdle questions and/or anexternal CRM (Customer Relationship Management) capability that feedsinto the AO application. A filter can be applied in order to retrievespecific product(s) offered to a customer during a marketing campaign.

The system provides the ability to offer relevant products to thecustomer with the outcome to be the selection of one or multipleappropriate products to begin the application process. When a product isselected, the details of that product should be carried forward to theapplication process.

The system also supports the facility to cross sell or up sell productsto the customer. This involves the presentment of additional offersidentified via a decisioning engine during a cross sell/up sell/downsell based on a set of pre-defined criteria (e.g., credit scoring).

‘Presentment’ and ‘Selection’ of one or many products/services availablefor opening, and the ability to add products, are supported. Selectedproduct details may be carried forward to the application process.

Input may be included from various sales tools (e.g., product selector,individual solutions, hurdle questions, marketing campaign offers) whichidentify products for offer.

The system preferably provides sole and joint options, and differententity types for commercial customers (e.g., Sole Proprietary,Partnership, Limited).

The system supports the ability to capture metrics on all areas withinthe Account Opening process to facilitate ‘test and learn’ tactics.

The system also provides the ability to ‘Save and Retrieve’ selectedproduct(s).

Pre-conditions to Product Selection may include: Gather Application Data(Application data can be gathered before a product is selected hisinformation can be used, e.g., to generate cross sell/up sellopportunities), Validate Identity, T&C (T&C can be viewed up front by acustomer), and Decision (product selection can be an output ofDecision).

Post-conditions to Product Selection may include Gather Application Data(product selection can occur prior to the capturing of application data;it is an input to the format of the application form), ValidateIdentity, T&C, Activate Account (an account can only be opened once atleast one product is selected), Decision (product selection can be aninput into Decision), Configure Product (product selection is an inputinto Configure Product; at least one product must be selection/implied),Funding, and Fulfilment.

FIG. 7 illustrates the components of the Product Selection milestoneaccording to some embodiments.

-   -   Product Presentment. Product Presentment represents the process        whereby qualified products are displayed to the user for        selection. Products supported for account opening may include,        but are not limited to, Savings, Checking, Term Deposits, Credit        Cards. Additional products may include Amanah (for Islamic        banking), Bundled Products, Premier, Secure Card, Select Credit.

As used herein, a secure card is a credit card that is backed by asavings account used as collateral on the credit available with thecard. In some embodiments, in order to open a secured card, the customermust already have a savings account with the bank. If the customer doesnot already have a savings account, they may be required to open one.

As used herein, Select Credit refers to a line of credit used asoverdraft protection on an account. It is considered an attribute of anaccount even though it is a standalone product (e.g., overdraftprotection on a checking account).

Entities may have existing variants of each of these broad categories ofproducts (each having their own product type) and currencies supported(e.g. Savings for Residents, Savings for Non-Residents etc.). Entitieshave the flexibility to maintain products and related supportedcurrencies, offered at their local sites, that use this account openingprocess.

In some embodiments, the following generic core products appear forselection: Statement Savings Account, Current Account, Term Deposit(Interim Interest supported), Term Deposit (Cumulative), Credit Cards.In some entities, Term Deposit products may fall under the broaderumbrella of Savings. As used herein, a Term Deposit is a fixed termaccount for a specified period, where interest is paid at the end of theterm. The customer may have various options for the funds at the end ofthe term regarding both the principal and/or the interest.

The AO system may or may not support the ability for the user/customerto ‘bundle’ products ‘on the fly’ (i.e. select/de-select products forthe bundle). However, in some embodiments, the AO system supports theability to select multiple products for opening in one instance. In someembodiments, there may be preferential rate pricing/benefits offered tothe customer if more than one product is selected within the multiproduct scenarios. For example, customer may be presented and proceed toselect both a Savings and Checking product. Although both may be treatedas individual products within the account opening flow, a customer mayreceive a preferential rate based on their selection. In someembodiments, the system may also support consolidation of accounts(e.g., grouping two installment loans into one).

The entity can define which products are available, for example, bychannel, customer group, customer type, currency, and/or entitlements.

In some embodiments, the system supports the presentment and selectionof a ‘bundled’ product. As used herein, a ‘bundled’ product is a set ofpre-grouped products as defined within the product system (host).Although a bundled product includes more than one product, it ispreferably presented (and treated) as one product within the AO system.

Certain bundled products (e.g., a ‘Smart Money Account’/SMA, acombination of a savings account with overdraft and a term deposit) maynot appear as a single ‘product type’ on the host system but may beprocessed and considered as a package of products. The AO system cansupport bundled products that are single product types and/or arepackages of products.

In some embodiments, for a joint application for a bundled product wherethe bundle consists, for example, of savings, checking, and credit cardproducts, all products in the bundle apply to both parties in therelationship. In the case of the credit card product, the primaryapplicant may ‘own’ the card by default and the secondary applicant maybe assigned to the card as an authorized user.

-   -   Inputs. There may be multiple inputs into each milestone. For        example, inputs into the product selection may include inputs        from one or more public websites, hurdle questions, marketing        campaign offers, cross sell, and/or needs analysis tools. In        some embodiments, pre-sales activities may be included as        inputs. An entity may optionally elect to filter the list of        products to present based on one or more inputs.

Input via Public Website may, in some embodiments, be as follows: Thecustomer enters the bank's public website, reviews product informationand proceeds to make a selection. Existing customers can log into thesystem using their interne banking credentials and proceed to select anaccount for opening. In some embodiments, they may be directed straightto the application page via multiple entry points (MEPS) from abrochureware site post logon.

Hurdle Questions refer to a process whereby customer is asked a set ofquestions in order to identify a product match. Input to hurdlequestioning comprises answers to a predefined set of questions (e.g.,‘Would you like a credit card that offers loyalty benefits?’) and theoutput is a set of criteria to help refine the marketing process.

Marketing Campaign Offers refer to pre-defined product(s) offered to acustomer via a special promotion code or campaign.

Cross Sell refers to data captured throughout the account openingprocess (or available for existing customers) that can be used toidentify products available for selection or additional products foroffer. An example of cross sell for credit cards is the UniversalProduct Selector, whereby a customer captures basic information and aset of products are returned for selection based on pre-defined criteriasuch as credit worthiness.

Needs Analysis Tool refers to a user-completed needs analysis using asales tool (e.g., product calculator, comparator). The result of thisanalysis may be used as input into the Account Opening process.

In some embodiments, products available for selection are based on a setof customer criteria such as age, income, etc. For example, conditionsof the account may be presented up front to the customer (e.g., amessage stating that you must be 18 years of age to open this account).Validation can, for example, be included on the ‘date of birth’ fieldwithin ‘Gather Application Data’ (e.g., age >18).

The input to the Product Selection milestone is a list of one ormultiple products. In some embodiments, this list may be automaticallygenerated based on predetermined criteria.

For example, the customer may proceed to answer a number of hurdlequestions based on needs/preferences. Once the questions have beenanswered, a list of one or multiple products is identified and used asan input into the product selection process. In some embodiments, anexternal application filters options based on the answers to hurdlequestions.

The system provides the ability for the business to define/updateproduct(s) available for selection by the customer and/or staff. Inother words, the list of products that is presented to the user ismaintainable by the Business.

In some embodiments, the system passes through the product selected andits attributes along with all information derived during the needsanalysis so that the customer does not have to re-capture thisinformation during gather applicant data. For example, if a customer isrequired to enter a name, age and income in a needs analysis tool, thisinformation is not be required to be re-entered during the ‘GatherApplication Data’ step of the account opening process. This informationpre-fills automatically.

In some embodiments, staff members may have the ability to view a listof products and/or search from products. The selection of a productlaunches the appropriate account opening process.

In some embodiments, the system supports capture of a promotion(“promo”) code, which may drive rates, additional offers and otheraccount opening related activities. The promo code may be passed throughthe entire AO process so that it can be stored on host against the newaccount opened. When a promo code has been entered by the user, thesystem preferably allows that user to view the details of thatpromotional offer (e.g., including select product attributes such asrate, etc.).

Capture of the promotion code can occur, for example, in one of thefollowing two ways: (1) Customer inputs promo code during the accountopening process. Validation preferably exists to ensure that a validcode is being entered and relates to that particular product (applicablefor all channels). The entity may define whether or not to display anerror message/warning or not where an invalid/incorrect code has beenentered. The entity also may define the customer journey thereafter(e.g., just display a warning message and allow the customer tocontinue, or other action); or (2) Customer selects banner ad and promocode is passed through to the account opening process.

-   -   Presentment. Presentment is the process whereby products are        available for display to a user (e.g., customer, branch or call        center staff) for selection. Preferably, the system supports        presentment of one or multiple products in one instance        (including sole and joint products).

Presentment may be, for example, via a product “list.” Alternatively,presentment may be via a banner ad on the public website, which thecustomer selects and is taken directly to the ‘Application form’ fordata capture, thereby bypassing the presentment of a product listing.The system may also support verbal communication of the products to acustomer within the branch/call center channel.

The system preferably supports the display of an unlimited number ofproducts. In some embodiments, in addition to products, the followingfields are available for selection: Country Group Member, Branch Codeand currency. Product presentment may be filtered based on Country/Groupmember, channel, customer segmentation and currency. The business mayalso configure which fields should display/be hidden at entity andchannel level. For example, an entity may or may not wish to allow anInternet and/or staff user to select a branch during an application.

During the joint application opening process, the system preferablydisplays the product selected by the primary applicant to the secondaryapplicant. In some embodiments, the secondary applicant is not given theoption to add additional products or modify the current selection as itapplies to the joint account. The secondary applicant may proceed toopen additional accounts if additional products are presented forselection (e.g., cross sell, product configuration). In someembodiments, additional products only apply to the sole secondaryapplicant and do not form part of the joint relationship. (i.e., thesecond applicant cannot open another joint account as part of thisapplication). This same logic can be applied to related parties forcommercial customers.

-   -   Cross Sell/Up Sell/Down Sell. Preferably, the system is flexible        such that it can determine, based on configurable business        rules, appropriate products for the customer based on data it        has available at that time. This may be done by Cross Sell/Up        Sell/Down Sell.

In some embodiments, the original product selected is an input to crosssell/up sell/down sell. The system then supports the selection ofadditional products presented to a customer based on a cross sell/upsell/down sell.

In Cross Sell, the system may, for example, offer a different productline to the one currently being applied for (e.g. offering a credit cardto someone who is applying for a checking account, or insurance tosomeone who is applying for a credit card). In Up Sell the system may,for example, offer a better version of the product the customeroriginally applied for e.g. if customer is applying for a standardcredit card maybe they are entitled to a gold or platinum card. In DownSell the system may, for example, offer a different product in the sameline if the customer is not eligible for the product they originallyapplied for (e.g., offering a basic checking account instead of a MoneyMovement checking account. If customer does not qualify for a checkingaccount, the customer can be offered an alternative savings account).

In some embodiments, analysis of the data and determining of whichproducts can be offered fall under the scope of a Sales Solutions team,and the products available for selection fall within the scope of AO.That is, Product Selection is the recipient of the cross sell/upsell/down sell opportunities derived from a decisioning engine.

-   -   Product Review. In the Product Review process, the Customer        reviews the available options before making a selection. In a        multi product scenario, the details for each of the products        presented may be available for review by the customer prior to        selection

For example, the customer selects ‘apply now’ from the checking productpage. The products available for selection are presented to thecustomer. The customer reviews the available options before making aselection. If the customer is not satisfied with the products presented,the customer may choose to ‘exit’ the account opening process.

If a product offered to the customer is a bundled product, the detailsof the bundle (e.g., products available within the bundle) are displayedand available for review by the customer. For example, a site may havedefined a product bundle (pre-defined product package—e.g., StudentPackage) to include a Savings and Credit Card. Once this product hasbeen selected by a user, there may be a need to present the details ofthe product bundle to the user for review (e.g., details of thesavings/credit card included in the bundle).

Products are preferably reviewed online by the customer except, forexample, where a Branch or Call Center representative verballycommunicates them to the customer. If a customer is not satisfied withthe products presented, the customer may choose to ‘exit’ the accountopening process.

In some embodiments, in a joint application scenario, the exit activitystep is not available to the secondary applicant. The secondaryapplicant only has the ability to view product details (read only) onceproduct selection has been completed by the primary applicant.

For example, the primary applicant may begin the joint application byselecting a ‘current account’ checking product for opening. The primaryapplicant completes the application process. When the secondaryapplicant proceeds to complete the process, the product selected by theprimary applicant for joint account opening displays as read only. Thesecondary applicant does not have the ability to modify or selectadditional products for the joint relationship. However, both theprimary and secondary applicants may have the option to open additionalsole accounts as needed. This same logic can be applied to relatedparties for commercial customers.

-   -   Product Selection. In the Product Selection process customer        selects a product for opening. Once a customer has received the        details for each of the products presented, the customer may        proceed to select one or multiple products for opening. In        addition to product selection, the user may, for example, have        the option to select the Country, Group member, branch code        and/or currency. The display and fields for selection are        configurable by channel and entity. The selection of the account        currency is preferably a separate selection to the product        selection.

An entity may, for example, define certain default values for thevarious product attributes on Group host systems, based on a combinationof Product Types, Customer Classification, Currency, Market Sector, etc.

The entity has the ability to configure the product options in productselection, by channel (e.g., as some of the Group System products maynot be offered across all channels). For entities which do not want todisplay the same products to all channels, the system may optionallysupport the ability to ‘hide’ products. For example, an entity may notwant to offer ‘direct’ products in a Branch environment.

In some embodiments, at least one product must be selected in order forthe customer to proceed with the account opening process. This rule maybe applicable for the first account opened with the AO process and notapply, for example, during a cross sell opportunity.

In some embodiments, a user is allowed to override a product offered forselection. This override may, in some embodiments, be managed via hurdlequestions or other pre-sales tools which reside outside of the AccountOpening process.

The system supports selection of one or multiple products in oneinstance. For example,

Scenario 1: Customer A may select to open a sole savings account

Scenario 2: Customer B may opt to open a savings and credit card accountin one instance

Scenario 3: Customers A and B may opt to open a joint savings and jointchecking account

The system also supports the selection of multi customer/multi productoptions in one instance. For example, Customer A and Customer B may wishto open a joint account. In the process, Customer A (primary applicant)is given the option to select additional sole and joint products forCustomer A and/or additional joint accounts with Customer B. Thecombination could include: (1) Joint Checking Account for customer A andB, (2) Sole Savings Accounts for customer A and (3) Sole CheckingAccount for customer A. In some embodiments, selection of sole productsby the primary applicant for the secondary applicant during a jointapplication is not a supported process.

The system provides the option for a customer to modify their selection(select/de-select products). For example, the customer may proceed toselect a Savings product only, but upon further review may decide thatthey would prefer to open a Savings and Credit Card product.

If only one product is available for selection, the customer may or maynot be required to select the option. This may be based on theconfiguration of the customer journey. The customer may bypass the‘product selection’ milestone altogether and proceed to ‘gatherapplicant data’.

The system supports multiple selections of one product type. Forexample, if the system displays both Passbook Savings and CurrentAccount for product selection, the user is able to specify the quantityof accounts they would like to open (e.g., ‘2’ Passbook Savingsaccounts). These accounts can either be the same or differentcurrencies. The business has the flexibility to limit the maximum numberof accounts that the customer selects. In addition, they can only allowa customer to open one if so desired (e.g., by not displaying a ‘numberbox’ next to the product).

For Branch/Call Center scenarios, the Customer Service RepresentativeCSR or Call Center Representative may proceed to select the option onbehalf of the customer. The customer may, for example, verbally agree toproceed with the account opening of the selected product.

In some embodiments, in a joint application scenario, this activity stepis not available to the secondary applicant. The secondary applicantonly has the ability to view product details (read only) once productselection has been completed by the primary applicant. The secondaryapplicant will not have the ability to modify or select additionalproducts for the joint relationship. Both the primary and secondaryapplicants may have the option to open additional sole accounts asneeded. This same logic can be applied to related parties for commercialcustomers.

For term deposit accounts, the customer is preferably able to view atsome point in the process the interest rate applicable to a particularcurrency, term and amount. The entity can define where this is in theprocess, and such information may, for example, be pulled from a localback office system. Applicable rates may be displayed, for example,based on the customer type (for existing customers)—e.g., Staff andPremier. The same recognition of customer segment applies for otheraccount types as well. In addition, product features, tariff, etc. maybe available for the user to view.

The business can configure whether the selection of Country, Groupmember, branch code and currency resides within the product selectionmilestone or the Configure Product milestone.

Once a product has been selected, the system preferably supports the‘Save and Retrieve’ of the selected item. If a customer proceeds to‘save’ their selection, the product(s) selected may be associated withthe existing customer profile.

-   -   Flow Charts. The following flow diagrams illustrate a user's        interaction with the ‘Product Selection’ milestone. In some        embodiments, activities leading up to the selection of the        ‘Apply Now’ functionality are outside the scope of the AO        system, but remain as inputs to the Product Selection milestone.        In the diagrams, ‘ . . . ’ refers to additional AO components        such as Present Application, Product Selection, etc.

‘Present Product’ may not apply depending on how the customer journey isconfigured. For example, the customer selects one product and theproduct presentment step is bypassed altogether. The customer may bepresented directly with the application form for capture of customerdata. Alternatively, ‘Present Product’ may apply depending on how thecustomer journey is configured. For example, the customer selects <applynow> for a ‘current account’ checking product and the system presents alist of products for selection.

Preferably, the system supports the (1) the capture of a promo code or(2) the passing of a promo code throughout the account opening processbased on the selection of a banner advertisement.

In some embodiments, a list of products is passed based on a pre-definedset of business rules defined within a CRM/sales engine (e.g.,individual solutions).

Flow A: FIG. 8 illustrates an example flow for a new customer through anInternet Channel. FIG. 9 illustrates an example flow for a new customerthrough a Branch/Call Center Channel.

Flow B: FIG. 10 illustrates an example flow for an existing customerthrough an Internet Channel.

Flow C: FIG. 11 illustrates how a user may be presented with a set ofhurdle questions. A list of qualified products are identified andpresented to the customer for selection. The customer answers a set ofquestions, which leads to a refined list of products based on customerneeds/preferences. The product list is presented to the customer.

Flow D: The flow diagram in FIG. 12 demonstrates Cross Sell/Up Sell/DownSell opportunities.

-   -   Entitlements. Preferably, the system supports the same set of        products across all channels (staff and customers) and there is        no variance in process flow (screens) for different channels        (e.g., branch vs. customer). Where a channel (e.g., Branch)        wishes to support additional products, these may be managed        through existing legacy systems.

In some embodiments, the system may allow entities to restrict theopening of an account for select products. For example, User A may havethe ability to open Demand Deposit products only (e.g.,Savings/Checking) while User B only supports the opening of Credit Cardproducts.

-   -   Multiproduct. The system provides the user the ability to apply        for more than one product at the start of the application.

In some embodiments, when applying for multiple products, the decisionpage provides the ability for a user to deselect products. If allproducts are deselected and the user continues the process is consideredas abandoned.

The system presents the decision for each product and any associatedoffers that pertain to each product. In some embodiments, upon customerselection of an alternate offer or up-sell or down-sell, the system willre-present the decision showing the offer in place of the originallyselected product (plus all the original products applied for). If aproduct was dropped, the product may be displayed along with a messagestating that this product was dropped and will not be processed.

The system also provides the ability to attach a product. For example,in the case of product A requiring product B (e.g., Secure Card), whenapplying for product A the user may be given the ability to select fromexisting any/all product B. If no product B is available for that userthen one will be added to the application (the application continues asa Bundled Product).

An application that contains more than one product may, in someembodiments, receive one reference number for the whole applicationform.

Retrieving a saved application form preferably presents the last pagethat a customer viewed. All products selected on that application formmay be continued (except dropped products).

The system provides the user with the ability to drop a product. In someembodiments, data for a dropped product is saved upon selection of save.When a user retrieves an application, any and all dropped products arenot part of the application. The deleted product information ispreferably maintained in the application data store for internal review,audit, etc.

In preferred embodiments, the entity can configure (without ITintervention) the documentation that is available for retrieval andprinting. In some embodiments, there is one document for all products(entire application). In alternative embodiments, there may be onedocument for each product.

During a multiproduct application, the user may select for each productwhether to open the account as a joint or as a sole, per existingjoint/sole product eligibility. In some embodiments, although theapplications can be submitted individually (e.g., by product), the‘decisioning’ is completed prior to this. In preferred embodiments, thedecision is completed for all products at once.

FIG. 13 illustrates an overview of an exemplary process flow ofactivities within the Product Selection milestone, but does not implyany flow between milestones.

Gather Application Data

Gather Application Data is the process by which data is captured tofulfill the opening of an account. The data required may vary depending,for example on the product, customer type, region/country, etc. The datato be gathered may, for example, be broadly categorized into: (a)Involved Party data required for application; and (b) Product specificdata. Sufficient information is captured to make an appropriate decisionto open a product and meet regulatory requirements. The entity willdetermine the minimum amount of information required for AO.

Data groupings may include, but are not limited to: Personal details(name, date of birth); Contact details (address, e-mail, phone);Occupation details (employment status, employer name); Assets and Incomedetails (annual salary, monthly rent and mortgage); Preference details(language, address to send mail); and Other details.

Information displayed to a user may vary depending, for example, onproduct, customer type, country, etc. For example, for Savings, personaland contact details may be displayed, whereas for Checking contact anddemographic details are displayed.

One aspect of this milestone is the ability for the customer to openaccounts with as little information as possible, and avoiding enteringinformation twice. Preferably, as little information as possible isasked for, and only once; the system preferably re-uses data thebusiness has on existing customers. At the same time, the business needsto ensure that sufficient information is captured to make appropriatedecisions to open a product and meet regulatory requirements.Preferably, the invention also provides the ability to capture metricson all areas within the Account Opening process to facilitate ‘test andlearn’ tactics.

Pre-conditions to the Gather Application Data milestone may be: ProductSelection (a product can be selected before or after data capture),Validate Identity (branch customers may present a piece ofidentification before applicant information is captured), and T&C (T&Ccan be viewed up front by a customer).

Post-conditions to the Gather Application Data milestone may be: ProductSelection (once sufficient data has been captured, the system maydisplay a list of qualified products based on the customer's needs),Validate Identity, T&C, and Decision (hard dependency; must occurafter).

FIG. 14 shows a high-level process flow, depicting one way in whichGather Application data is envisaged to work from end to end.

In some embodiments, the Gather Application Data process includes one ormore of the following functionalities: Involved Party Search for Staffusers; Capture Prospect Profile/Product data; Display Involved Partydetails; Create Involved Party; Confirm/Modify Application details;Metrics and Analytics; and Dynamic Display of a particularapplication/field based on the product selection (e.g., if a customerselects a credit card, X application will be displayed. If a customerthen selects another product at the end of the process only theadditional fields will be displayed that are applicable for theadditional product).

In some embodiments, this process may also include Save and Retrieve,Internet Profile Validation, and/or Create Prospect Profile (e.g.,appropriate blacklist/watch list checks optionally carried out duringaccount opening or post booking).

Preferably, Branch/Maintenance staff view the same set of GatherApplication Data account opening screens as the customer. However, insome embodiments, the Branch channel may, for example, have a moreextensive customer search feature, or other variation.

In the case of a joint account, if only enough detail is available forone applicant, sole account may be opened, abandoned, or saved,according to the customer's choice. The system supports the addition ofa sole applicant to an existing sole account for a new jointrelationship, as well as cross group member account opening (e.g.,insurance). More than two applicants may join into an account owningrelationship (configurable by the region). In some embodiments, theinvention supports multi-language data capture.

When an existing customer is logging on, the customer segment/type ispreferably identified (e.g., Staff, Premier, etc.), to ensure that thenew account picks up the correct status/interest rate types,segmentation code, etc. For Term deposits, Staff and Premier customersmay, for example, receive a higher interest rate, and in such cases, anyinterest rates displayed to the customer should be as per the ratesstored in the local entity back office system for those customer types.

-   -   Identify Involved Party. This is the process whereby an Involved        Party (individual that has a relationship with the bank) is        confirmed as a new or existing customer of the bank (e.g., Does        the bank have an information record for this applicant?). This        may involve, for example, a search for a customer record in the        bank systems. In some embodiments, this includes the ability to        search for Involved Party profiles (e.g., Customers, Prospects,        Authorized Signers, Owner/Principals, etc.).

The process of identifying an Involved Party may vary from channel tochannel. In the case of the staff assisted channel, for example,identification may be performed through a series of questions thatindicate the Involved Party's profile record, if it exists. In the caseof self-assisted channel and for existing customers, identification canbe achieved through an Identity and Validation (ID&V) framework. Forsome entities, an Involved Party may not have a pre-existingrelationship with the bank.

-   -   Staff Channel. In some embodiments, the involved party search is        for Staff users only (e.g., Branch or Call Center). If the        member of staff is either face to face or on the phone with the        customer, they can perform a search for the required profile.

In some embodiments, staff users can search for a customer profile basedon one or more of the search criteria listed in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Field Name Description Status Includes Profile status, e.g.Open, Closed, All Relationship Includes the various types of InvolvedParties, e.g. Customer, Prospect, Authorized User, Authorized Signatory,Owner/Principal. Product The classification or category of a group ofretail banking products such as Savings, Checking, Instalment Loan,Insurance, etc. Account Account number of customer to be searched NumberSSN/TIN/NI Tax identification number of customer to be searched Date ofCustomer's Date of Birth Birth First Name First Name Middle Name MiddleName Last Name Last Name Company Name Name of the Company Street NameStreet of customer's address City City of customer's address Zip/ Zipcode/Postal Code relating to the Postal Code customer's address CountryName of a country where a customer resides - associated with customeraddress

Additional Search Criteria may be added, for example, from a predefinedlist of available Data Fields. The business can configure according totheir requirements/preferences.

If only one matching record is located in the system, it may bedisplayed for further analysis. If multiple matching records are locatedin the system, they may all be displayed as a search result list. Theuser can then select one on the list and proceed to display the completeprofile.

In some embodiments, the Search Result list includes the informationlisted in Table 2. As above, search result fields may be added. Thebusiness preferably configures this as per their requirements.

TABLE 2 Field Name Description Name Name of Involved Party AddressAddress of Involved Party SSN/TIN/NI SSN/TIN/NI of Involved Party (NI =National Insurance Number) Relationships Type of relationship theInvolved Party has with the bank (Customer, Prospect, etc.)

-   -   Online Channel. When a user logs-in online with credentials, the        system preferably retrieves his/her profile after performing an        internal search of the customer's information. If the user does        not have credentials, the system may assume it is a new customer        and request the user to input all the necessary information.

In some cases, a customer may not enter his/her credentials despitebeing an existing customer with the bank. For this reason, the bankpreferably performs a duplicate check in the background to eliminatepossible duplicate profiles in the system. This duplicate check may becarried out in all channels, whenever customer credentials are notentered.

In some embodiments, for CMB profiles, only related parties (e.g,director, owner) are able to search for company profiles and associatedindividual profiles with the company. ‘Users’ may not search for companyprofiles.

-   -   Display Involved Party Information. An Involved Party        (Individual or a Business) may have several different        relationships with the bank. The type of relationship(s) that        one has with the bank may dictate the data to be displayed.

Exemplary relationships include the following. (a) Customer: This may,for example, be an Individual or Business with accounts that arecurrently opened and/or accounts that have been closed. (b) Prospect:This may be an Individual or Business which does not currently hold (orhas not formerly held) any accounts with the Bank, but whose partial orcomplete information exists in the systems. Can also be named “Lead”.(c) Authorized Signatory: These may be Individuals who have beenauthorized by another to act on the authorizer's behalf AuthorizedSigners may include Powers of Attorney, Authorized Signers for Business(non-Consumer) accounts, and anyone acting in a fiduciary capacity(e.g., Trustees, Administrators, etc.). (d) Owner/Principal: These areIndividuals who are either an Owner or Principal associated with aBusiness customer.

In some embodiments, there are two instances where Involved PartyInformation can be displayed. For example, in the diagrams in FIGS. 15and 16: 1. Display Customer Profile—This is a basic view of an existingcustomer profile, with search results returning some basic customer data(e.g., name, address, DOB). This view may include Application/AccountDetails (e.g., pending applications, if any, so that the user can workon them); 2. Display Application Form (new or existing applications,during the AO process)—This section also contains customer information,but in some embodiments contains only a subset of customer information,as required by the product he/she is applying for. Preferably the fieldsare pre-filled from the previous case 1 (Display Customer Profile).

For case 1 (Display Customer Profile), the data displayed isconfigurable by the business. The available data may be configured, forexample, based on the Country, Channel and Customer Type, Relationship,etc. In some embodiments, basic demographic information that is includedfor PFS customers includes one or more of the following:

-   -   Title    -   Other Title    -   First Name    -   Middle Names    -   Last Name    -   Maiden Name    -   Date Of Birth    -   Gender    -   Marital Status    -   Tax ID Number    -   Nationality    -   Country and Place Of Birth    -   Country of Residence    -   Residential Status    -   Permanent Residential Address    -   Correspondence Address

Basic demographic information that may be included for CMB customersincludes:

-   -   Business Name    -   Entity Type    -   Business Registration Number    -   Date of Incorporation    -   Country of Incorporation    -   Name of Parent Company    -   Business Registered Address    -   Correspondence Address    -   Contact Person    -   Contact Phone Number    -   Contact Address

For case 2 (Display Customer Information as part of the ApplicationForm) as well, the customer data displayed as part of the application isdetermined by the business (configurable). However, this data may dependalso on the product selected for the account opening process.Preferably, whatever is displayed to the user is editable (and is entityconfigurable).

-   -   Assemble Application. This section describes the process of        composing and assembling one application as per the criteria and        rules defined for each product type and customer type. The        process includes defining the rules in advance, as well as the        real-time construction of the virtual application form subject        to the product and the customer.

Preferably, the Business configures in advance the rules and criteriaconsidered to prepare and assemble the application form that will bepresented to the customer/user. This will provide flexibility and speedand ease of maintenance to the different regions/countries.

Some data may only be displayed to Staff and not the online customer(e.g., charges data, customer complaints, etc.). The application isdependent on the customer type and product; however, the fieldsdisplayed may be different to customers and staff users.

-   -   Involved Party Information. If the customer exists in the bank        systems, his/her latest information may be retrieved from the        systems to update the information on the application. If it is a        saved application, the information may be overwritten with any        newer profile information. If the customer has provided some        information during a session, this information is preferably        carried forward to the application. For example, a customer may        have entered basic information to request an insurance        quotation. After that he/she clicks “Apply” and any data entered        for the quotation is automatically pre-populated on the        application form. If the Customer Profile does not exist, the        system may capture any customer data field requested by the        entity (configurable). If it is a joint account and if it is an        existing banking relationship, information of all the related        customers may be retrieved. The list of names is made available        to the user for selection. For a CMB customer, information from        the owners/principals may be collected and linked to the CMB        profile.    -   Product Information. Depending on the criteria identified and        the customer's initial input or selection, the application        contains the necessary product data elements that need to be        collected.    -   Present Application. Once the Product Arrangement/application        for a specific product and customer has been assembled, it is        presented to the customer/user in order to validate its content        or to request additional required information. The application        displayed may vary by customer type and/or product, but        preferably not by channel (however, the fields displayed may be        different for customers and staff users).

As mentioned previously, any information that already exists in thesystems or that has been captured during the session can bepre-populated in the screen. The User/Customer is not requested to enterthis information again. If the customer is applying for multipleproducts simultaneously, the system preferably displays the applicationin a sequential order. Any data that has been captured for one productand applies to a second product is not required to be captured again.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing one example of how a Multiple ProductApplication can be processed. It also shows how the Joint Applicationwill work.

In the case of multiple product applications, the system preferablyprocesses each product application independently and in sequentialorder. In some embodiments, the decisioning may be performed together,and the product configuration and (optionally) funding may be performedsequentially. The user enters information on the first product, followsto configure this product, and sends the information. Once this firstapplication has been completed, the second product application willbegin.

For a joint application, information from the primary applicant may bedisplayed and requested first. For existing relationships, the systemmay provide with the list of related customers to the primary applicant.These may be selected later on as the joint applicants. A request isthen sent to the secondary applicant(s) to get their input data.Preferably, only that data that has not been captured before isrequested. Primary-entered application details should be prefilled(e.g., address for account). The secondary applicant(s) may choose analternate channel to respond.

In the case where the secondary applicant is available immediately(e.g., call center or branch), the user (staff) may select to displaythe secondary applicant's information immediately once he/she isfinished with the primary applicant. Again, only that data which has notbeen captured before is requested, and primary-entered applicationdetails should be prefilled (e.g., address for account).

For saved applications, the system preferably displays the last pagewhere the customer stopped the process during the last session.

-   -   Enter Application (Product Arrangement) Details. This is the        process whereby the customer provides relevant information.        Certain predetermined formatting validations related to        standardization of fields (e.g., address, date, email, phone        number, etc.) are entity configurable and may be performed        automatically. Once the application is displayed on the screen,        the customer/user will need to enter those fields that are        deemed mandatory for the Account Opening to proceed. These rules        (what is mandatory and what is optional) are preferably        configurable and can vary site by site.    -   Validate. At the end of each page the system preferably performs        a validation of the information captured, to confirm all the        required information has been entered and in the correct way.        The data that is collected from the customer/user may, for        example, be validated against a set of pre-defined business        rules and field level validations (configured by the business).        If the data is missing or has been incorrectly entered, the        system will display the corresponding errors. High risk        customers may be prompted to provide additional information,        based on business rules/local specifications.

Certain product/country specific rules may interrupt the account openingprocess and prevent the applicant continuing with the application if thedata input invalidates the application. For example, after entering theDate of Birth the system might identify the applicant is not old enoughto apply (e.g., a minor applying for a credit card or investmentaccount). In these instances, validation may be achieved throughpage/field level checks put in place by the business and may bedependent on the order the milestones are presented to the customer.

Identification type is preferably localized to the entities' specificidentification types. Entities can define what is a valid type ofidentification. Fields preferably have validation at the local entitylevel (e.g., if drivers license has 6 characters in Canada, the systemvalidates on 6 in Canada, even though some entities have more). Whereentity provides two or more validate identity options to the user, theuser may have to complete only one. In this case, validation is carriedout on the current option selected, regardless of whether data has beenentered in any or all of the other options. Preferably, only the dataentered on the selected option is stored/updated.

As with the case of a PFS Joint Account, the CMB Application data mightbe captured in separate stages and not necessarily completed at once(e.g., if not all the owner or director information is available at thesame time). As with the Joint Accounts, the information on the CMBcustomer and the Owner/Principals may be captured sequentially (e.g.,User starts by entering the company's information. Once the company'sinformation is completed, and if the owner/principal is available toprovide his/her information, the user will proceed with the firstowner/principal, and so on). The system may, in some embodiments,require all the owners/directors information to be completed beforeproceeding with the application.

The customer/user can decide to leave the application process at anytime. The customer/user can decide to either save the data for laterretrieval, or just cancel the application completely. In someembodiments, the system may trigger certain abandonment services. Forexample, the Communications module may send a reminder to the customerthat the application is pending and all the activities and contextinformation may be tracked in detail.

In some embodiments, certain information may be captured as multipleinstances into one single application (e.g., Customer Addresses,Identification Documents, Owner/Principals, etc.). For CustomerAddresses, for example, the ability to add more than one address isdefinable by the local entity, as is the type of address (e.g., mail,email, etc.). The entity may also define the maximum number of addressesa customer can add per address type and in total (in accordance with anyhost system restrictions). The customer may also provide more than oneidentification document, one CMB customer can contain one or moreOwner/Principals, etc.

Once the information from the applicant(s) has been collected, the usercan proceed to confirm and submit the information in order to requestthe account and the customer creation (if new customer). In someembodiments, this process proceeds as follows:

-   -   Confirm. Customer/staff makes sure that the information provided        is correct and has been accurately captured. He/She then        proceeds to re-confirm the desire to apply for the product. If        necessary, the customer can modify the provided information.

If the customer considers that he/she has entered all the availableinformation, he/she can proceed to submit the application. This meansthe customer has completed filling in the data and this data will bevalidated. The Account Opening system will confirm that everything iscompleted and trigger an engine to send out a confirmation notice.

Once an application has been displayed to the user (customer or staff),the data that has been collected can be stored in the system for furtherdecisioning. In the case of new customers, new profile creation may alsotake place.

In the case of new applicant, once a predetermined minimum set ofinformation (e.g., Name and Contact Details) has been capturedcorrectly, a profile may be created. In the case of an existingprospect, once all the information has been captured correctly, theProspect Profile may be converted into a Customer Profile. When creatinga CMB Customer Profile, information is collected, for example, onOwners, Directors, Authorized Users, etc. as well. These profiles may becreated at the same time as the CMB customers, but in some embodimentsmay be created as separate profiles linked to the CMB customer (e.g., sothat these profiles are available for search, etc.). If AuthorizedSignatories or Authorized User fields are requested as part of theProduct Configuration, these may be created as independent profiles aswell, but linked to the specific Account.

During the process of application creation or maintenance the user mayupdate relevant primary or linked profile information. Once the userconfirms the provided information, the original profile may beoverwritten with the newest information.

In some embodiments, the system provides maintenance functionality forone or more of the following types of profiles: Primary Customer,Subsequent Customer(s), Authorized Signatory, Authorized User, andOwner/Principal.

Validate Identity

Validate Identity is the process of determining that the customer is,beyond doubt, the person they say they are in their application, andapplies to both new and existing customers. The bank provides for abalance between ease-of-use versus control, in order to enable customersto do business online without compromising internal risk standards andto accomplish a competitive account opening process. The Entity may pickfrom a set of pre-defined validation options.

Information should be obtained when opening an account which meets thefollowing criteria:

-   -   For a new customer the bank must establish beyond doubt the        identity of the customer (e.g., using a Passport or ID Card) and        confirm their address. In the case of CMB clients, in addition        to identifying and confirming address of the        owners/directors/authorized signatories, the bank may also need        additional information depending on the legal entity and local        regulations (e.g., Certificate of Incorporation or Board        Resolution).    -   For new and existing customers the bank may require additional        information to establish how they will use the account (e.g.,        expected turnover). This may assist, for example, in detecting        suspicious activity in a timely manner, complying with        applicable laws and regulations, minimizing the risk that the        Bank will be used for illicit activities, and protecting the        bank's reputation.    -   For existing customers the bank needs to authenticate their bona        fide when the customer contacts them to request a new product,        dependent on channel (e.g., PIN, TAC Telephone Access Code, or        ID&V).

The first two bullets above collectively refer to a KYC (Know YourCustomer) process existent in the banking industry. In some embodiments,the first step in the KYC process is to identify and consider theparticular KYC requirements associated with the delivery channel used bythe customer during the application process. The manner in which thecustomer approaches the Bank to establish an account is an importantdeterminant for the KYC information collection process and the type ofdue diligence performed on the prospective customer. The piece of KYCthat relates to capturing additional Customer Information is includedunder the Gather Application Data milestone. The piece of KYC thatrelates to performing a Documentary Verification or a Third Party SystemValidation is covered in this milestone as part of the Manual andAutomated Validation options.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing exemplary requirements for New toBank versus Existing in Bank Validation. Validation of both new andexisting customers is supported.

Preferably, Validate Identity does not rely on the presentment ofphysical documentation. Eliminating this requirement removes at leastone barrier to account opening, and may result in a higher volume ofapplications processed because the ‘log jam’ of manual process iseliminated. This increases the likelihood that accounts are openedcorrectly in the first place, using accurate, up to date data—enabling abetter risk decision and also minimizing resource-heavy repair processespost-account opening. Fake documents would no longer present a problembecause documents are not used, and the need for physical storing andscanning of documents would be eliminated.

In some embodiments, the system provides interaction points with local,automated, third party identity validation systems (e.g., Equifax,Experian) or external databases (other national databases, utilitycompanies, insurance companies, etc.). Manual identity validationprocesses (and means of updating application status when completedoffline) may also be supported. Use of PIN, TAC or ID&V credentials mayauthenticate a user (CMB and PFS). Validation by credit card (check thatcustomer is entitled to use the card), challenge SMS, employment (checkwith employer), outbound call (check with telephone database),biometrics, and other means is also possible.

The means of identification validation will vary based on localregulatory requirements. Each entity may define specific (or global)requirements for validation of identity based on customer type, productand channel (of application). The account opening business rules enginedefines what can be validated and how. For example, for a new customerapplying for a checking account via the internet may be required topresent a valid, original government issued ID in person at a branch,whereas a new customer applying for a savings account via the internetmay be validated using an automated validation process (e.g., VerID,CashEdge) based on bureau data or validated through funding (e.g.,nominal money transfer).

In some embodiments, Cross Group (domestic and international) and CrossChannel Validation is supported. As used herein, “Group” means within alocal implementation (e.g., country) the different entities/propositionsthat exist, and the possibility for validations that are requiredamongst these entities/propositions. Again, the ability to capturemetrics on all areas within the Account Opening process to facilitate‘test and learn’ tactics is supported.

In some embodiments, this milestone does not include, for example,assessing customer's credit worthiness or qualifying them for a product(this preferably belongs to the Decision milestone), Fulfilment processto confirm Validation (exit to offline process), Validation by Funding,Merchant/White label accounts, Cross Border validation, or Duplicateapplication validation.

In some embodiments, Validate Identity and Application Approval aredistinct and independent business processes. One exception, for example,may be U.S. Cards, where decisioning and validation are typicallyperformed as one single batch. An application can be completed in adifferent channel from the one it was originated in.

Pre-conditions to the Validate Identity milestone may include: GatherApplication Data (assumes some or all customer data has been captured;in some embodiments, this milestone may be a hard dependency for new tobank customers), Decision (product application may have beenpre-approved), Product Configuration (customer may have completedproduct configuration), and Terms and Conditions (customer may have beenpresented with terms and conditions).

Post-conditions to Validate Identity may be: Decision, Terms andConditions, Activate Account (in some embodiments, account cannot beactivated until customer identity is validated), and Gather ApplicantData (sufficient data may have been captured to complete validation ofidentification, but further information may be required to make productoffer/approve application).

FIG. 19 shows a schematic of the various steps involved in theValidation of Identity. FIG. 20 shows a schematic of the various levelsof configuration available for ID Validation.

-   -   Define Validation Rules. The means of Identity Validation may        vary per country or region based on local regulatory        requirements. This section describes the various choices        available to the entities, as well as the requirements to set up        these validations as per their specific needs.

Preferably, local entities set up their own identity validationrequirements which conform to local regulations and available validationtools. They may, for example, determine what information and/or actionsare necessary in order to validate a customer's identity depending onwhat customer type (new/existing) or customer group (CMB/PFS) isinvolved in the Account Opening process, as well as the channel. Somevalidations may be performed real time, allowing for STP, while othersmay require more time to be completed and may demand manual processing.

There is preferably a set of available, pre-defined Validation optionsas detailed in the previous section (Authentication, DocumentVerification, Challenge Questions, Third Party and Internal Systems).The entity may orchestrate these options and configure them depending ontheir specific scenarios. This configuration is business maintainable,so that the rules can be easily added, changed or removed without anyfurther need for system development. Validation can be fully/partiallyautomated (e.g., as in the case of Authentication through credentials)and manual (e.g., as in the case where verbal quiz questions ordocumentary verification is required).

The Business may configure for a given criteria, what the valid optionsor methods of customer identity validations are. In some embodiments,the criteria to determine the validation rules are (1) Customer type:Validation may differ, for example, if it is an existing customer vs. anew customer, or depending on whether it is a PFS or CMB case; (2)Channel: Certain validation solutions may only be required if thecustomer is applying online. Staff facing validations may be done, forexample, through document checks as well as reusing online solutions, ifapplicable; and (3) Validation Status: Validation can return differentstatuses as output, for example: ‘Failed’, ‘Passed’ or ‘Pending FurtherReview.’ In certain cases where one type of validation has failed or hasreturned a doubtful response, the system may perform a second type ofvalidation. For example, if a third party system validation fails, thecustomer may be requested to send his/her documents via mail (Cascadevalidation). The validation statutes can be thought of as ahierarchy—the Application status encompasses the Milestone status aswell as the validation status, and the Milestone status encompasses thevalidation status as well. In other words, as a hierarchy, ApplicationStatus→Milestone Status→Validation Status. Given this, Validation Statusmakes up the Milestone and Application Status, and the Milestone Statusmakes up the Application Status.

In some embodiments, the system provides a user friendly tool for theBusiness Users to configure these rules. Preferably, any of the datafields available during Account Opening, will be available to use insetting validation rules as this may take place during the applicationprocess, or post-booking. For example, if dealing with verbalquestionnaires, the entity can select the fields/questions they want toinclude as part of the validation of existing customers. If dealing withexternal systems, the entity can define the data that is required to besent to the third party or internal system of their choice. The businessmay store the information that resulted from the automated validationsfor future reference. The system preferably allows them to define thefields they will store as a result of an interaction with a specificexternal system. If dealing with documentary verification, the entitymay define locally the required documents that are considered AcceptableIdentification Documentation. The user should be able to store in thesystem the information presented during a documentary verification(information on the ID provided, e.g. number, expiry date, issue date,etc.). The fields available to store are preferably configurable by thebusiness.

In some embodiments, the system includes “Cascading” Validation Rules.For example, if one rule is evaluated false, then another validationrule is attempted in sequence.

The Business may configure the actions to take once the results fromValidation of Identity are available. These actions are related tosending indications to specific queues depending on the validation codesreceived.

To support different scenarios (e.g., entity cannot validate a previousaddress that is an overseas one, or the customer does not have aprevious address), the ‘Identity validation’ portion of the system ispreferably flexible enough for entities to allow the customer either toselect one of X options for additional validation (or, e.g., customerhas to validate using all options if an entity requires). Where there isonly one option, or the customer cannot validate with any of theoptions, they should be able to click on option on this page and as suchthe application is sent to the referral work queue. Where validationfails, the entity can configure the reason for failure (e.g., eithergeneric or a specific error message).

Product type may or may not be a determining factor for the validationof the customer identity.

The entity can configure whether appropriate checking (includingwhitelist, blacklist, watchlist, etc.) will be performed for each of thejoint and primary and secondary applicants, authorized users, andguarantors.

-   -   Apply Validation Rules. In this process, the system retrieves        the rules for the specific scenario and triggers the        corresponding action(s).

Whenever an individual or multiple individuals apply for a new product,through any channel, the system processes the information available andcross references it against the validation rules that have been definedto determine the method of validation. Integration Points may beestablished depending on the validation criteria configured. Forexample, an entity may have selected automated validation throughExperian, hence, an exit point to Experian is provided. More than oneValidation Option can be performed for one single applicant.

In some embodiments, this process is as follows. In order for the systemto identify the required validation option, it first recognizes thegiven scenario. For example: Is it an online or staff facing situation?Is this an existing customer or a new customer? Is this a CMB or a PFScustomer? Has the customer been rejected in a previous validation and istrying again?

Depending on the validation option(s) set up for that specific scenariothe system requests a predetermined minimal set of information up front.For example, for PFS: Name, Date of Birth, Address, IdentificationNumber (TIN/SSN, Passport, etc.); or for CMB: Name, Address,Identification Number (Business Registration Number, TIN, etc.). Oncethe system has identified the scenario and the corresponding pre-definedoptions, it triggers the next steps of the validation.

Where possible and where local regulatory requirements allow it,automated identity validation is performed. Automated or Semi AutomatedValidations may include authentication through credentials, Third PartySystems, and/or Internal Systems. In some embodiments, for automatedIdentity Authentication, the system identifies a customer by means ofcredentials (e.g., ID&V, PIN, TAC, etc.). Automated Validation may alsobe achieved through integration with external systems (including systemsthat may be external to the AO system, but still part of the Banksystems). These systems preferably feed back to the AO system with thestatus of the validation process.

In some embodiments, the Account Opening system allows for integrationwith different local validation systems (e.g., VerID, CashEdge, Equifax,etc.) and/or existing systems (e.g., blacklists, CDU, etc.). Thesevalidation systems are exemplary knowledge-based authentication thirdparty systems that provide real-time confirmation of customeridentities. They are interactive solutions that present a series ofchallenge questions utilizing relevant facts on the individual obtainedby scanning billions of public records. Once the customer has respondedto the questions, the validation system delivers a confirmation ofidentity within seconds, without requiring any prior relationship withthe customer.

The system has the ability to react to the outputs from other decisionsystems according to the business rules defined by the entity, making afinal decision or carrying out the next step. It is expected that thethird party and internal systems will provide a result that will eithersatisfy, not satisfy, or pend the milestone. The returned output may bestored with the application/profile/history for later reference. In someembodiments, the validation statuses are only visible to staff users.

In some embodiments, one or more manual validations—performed by aperson with none (or almost none) system intervention—may be performedinstead of or in addition to automated validations. Types of ManualValidation include Verbal Quizzes, Documentary Verification, andEnhanced Due Diligence.

Verbal Quizzes may be used to validate the existing customer's identityby presenting a standard list of questions approved by compliance. Thesequestions are typically read to customers by staff and not used online.The staff captures the customer's answers and compares them with theinformation existent in the bank systems. In some embodiments, theVerbal Quizzes relate to customer information captured in advance thatsits under the Customer's profile.

For Documentary Verification, for example, the bank staff may examineand verify identification to determine the true identity of allcustomers/application requesting the Bank's services. In someembodiments, this process may be closely related to the Bank's AML(anti-money laundering)/KYC process. The list of documents required tocheck may vary depending on the product and customer. Preferably, eachentity determines the required Acceptable Identification Documentationby scenario. The list of required documentation is presented to thecustomer or user. The staff user obtains a printed form ofidentification, collects critical information from the ID, and wherenecessary has it entered in the account opening system (where it ispreferably maintained as part of the customer's profile). For theprinting of the application form summary, entities have the flexibilityto be able to add an area for signature(s) (e.g., the application couldbe the signature card if necessary). This functionality is available foronline, branch and call center channels.

Enhanced Due Diligence is a process for identifying, understanding, andmonitoring with greater scrutiny those customers that may present aheightened risk of money laundering, terrorist financing, or otherillicit activities. If a customer has been identified as an SCC (SpecialCategory of Client—e.g. public officials or connected persons, companiesoffering financial services, companies involved in military production,casinos, etc.) during the “Gather Application Data” process, thevalidation of the identity might involve more stringent requirements,including, for example, senior management approval or obtaining agreater understanding of information and/or documentary verification.The application system may flag the application for further review(workflow) or may serve the applicant additional questions, or both, forexample.

-   -   Confirm Validation. In some embodiments, this final step is not        apparent to the customer, as he/she does not need to know the        results of the validation itself. However, internally, having        performed a successful validation confirms that the account can        be safely activated. In the case of Automated validations, this        step refers to internal processes that trigger the next steps        based on the culmination of the Applicant's Identity Validation.        In the case of Manual validations, this step requires a person's        intervention to update the status of the validation milestone.        Successful validation will then confirm the milestone has been        met and the account can be opened.

In some embodiments, the results of the validation processes detailwhether the milestone was 1) satisfied, 2) not satisfied or 3) pend. Thesystem may take actions based on the details received (e.g., Codes froma Third Party System), and send indications to the proper department(e.g., queues to Fraud).

If the Validation is pending as a result of any of the previous steps,the system preferably update the status of the application and send anote to the communications module to follow up with the customer withthe appropriate instructions on how to complete this milestone. Wherethere are multiple milestones outstanding, the business can configurehow such cases are handled (e.g., they can decide whether or not anycommunication is combined or the communications are sent separately).This is configurable at product and/or milestone level. For example,changes to milestones, application decision results, applicantvalidation results, funding execution, fulfilment, etc. may all havetriggers built in so local entities can use these activities (or not) toinitiate a message to be sent.

In some embodiments, the application does not need to be pended if thevalidation has not been completed. The customer can continue the AccountOpening journey. The account can potentially be booked but not activated(depending on the entity's choice).

In some embodiments, once the validation has been performed the systemwill not allow the user to modify those fields that were used forvalidation purposes. In case of documentary verification and assumingreceipt of appropriate documentation, as discussed above, a staff usermay be able to update the status of the validation manually. The abilityto update the status manually may be controlled by entitlements.

For existing customers, successful authentication (ID&V, TAC, PIN, etc.)can satisfy the validate ID milestone. Where a customer has to bevalidated manually, staff have the ability to capture such informationas part of the application (can capture that for example they have seenthe ID and can record the actual ID number). They also have the abilityto capture information relating to the ID (e.g., issue date, ID type,expiration date, ID number, etc.).

Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions is the process of presenting the customer the termsand conditions related to the account that he/she is opening. Thisprocess involves the retrieval and presentment of Terms and Conditionsand Disclosures, in multi-language where applicable. This process shouldbe simple, quick, easy to understand, and easy for the customer toaccept.

The description below refers to the customer self service channel. Wherevariations exist for other channels, they are noted.

In some embodiments, Terms and Conditions are static, and heldexternally to the Account Opening System. In other embodiments, theAccount Opening System may dynamically generate Terms and Conditions,which may vary according to product selection, configuration andcustomer segment.

Acceptance of Terms and Conditions may be passive or non-passive(Online/Verbal/Wet Signature). Assuming passive acceptance (e.g., firsttransaction is taken as acceptance of T&C) is deemed acceptable,automated means of indicating acceptance, and recording that acceptance,are not applicable.

In some embodiments, the Terms and Conditions milestone is deemedcomplete when the customer has been presented/referred to the Terms andConditions and his/her acceptance has been recorded for non passiveacceptance. Entities which require a signature may be provided an exitpoint which may pend the overall application.

In some embodiments, the system provides for printing of T&C andDisclosures (e.g., via the browser), requests to email/mail/fax copy ofT&C (e.g., exit point to Communications module), and/or audit logging(e.g., recording the date/channel when T&C was accepted and when T&C wasdistributed, for passive/non-passive options). For example, data may bekept for a prescribed period as to the date and time the customeraccepted the T&C, which product T&C and version the acceptance relatedto, and/or a central copy of the T&Cs may be held, so that at any giventime, anyone can determine the exact T&C that was in operation at thedate and time the customer accepted them.

In some embodiments, the system may also provide for “stitching” of T&Cor disclosures, storage repository (e.g., storage of customer acceptancefor specific period of time) and retrieval of archived T&C, ability toview log details (e.g., when the T&C was emailed to the customer),imaging of wet signed paper T&C documents, usage of an signatureelectronic pad into the T&C Milestone, personalized T&C presentation forCMB customers, content management of terms and conditions agreements aswell as other appropriate disclosures, and/or presentation of terms andconditions outside of AO process.

If the terms and conditions contain product specific information, theProduct Selection milestone may be a mandatory pre-requisite for thatparticular T&C and its related disclosures.

The degree to which the process can be fully automated may be subject tolocal regulatory requirements.

FIG. 21 shows an overview of T&C in an exemplary relationship to otherAO Milestones. The Terms and Conditions milestone can reside at anypoint within the Account Opening flow. For illustration purposes,consider the following two scenarios.

-   -   Scenario 1: A non-customer goes to the public website and        follows links which take him to “Apply for Savings online”. He        enters the AO process of collect applicant information, etc.        Once the customer enters all the necessary application data and        selects to continue, the system presents the appropriate terms        and conditions agreements. In this first scenario, Product        Selection and Gather Application Data milestones occurred before        the T&C milestone. The other milestones like Funding and        Decision will occur depending upon the application status        achieved after completion of T&C milestone.    -   Scenario 2: An existing customer follows links which take him to        “Apply for Savings online.” He can directly decide to review the        T&C conditions. In this scenario, the Product Selection        milestone happened before T&C milestone. The other milestones        like Gather Application Data, Funding, Decision, etc. will        happen if the customer decides to continue with the account        opening process.

Certain subsequent milestones may be influenced by the Terms andConditions milestone. For example, Funding details may be capturedbefore Terms and Conditions are accepted but it may be that the Fundinginstructions cannot be executed until after the Terms and Conditionshave been accepted.

At different times during the process, exit points to externalsystems/engines may be provided, for example for input to the Terms andConditions presentation. For example, this milestone may provide exitpoints to other systems like the communication module to send theagreements on email/mail/fax upon the requests from the customer.

Preferably, this milestone functions to present the customer with anappropriate Terms and Conditions agreement related to the entity as wellas product(s) the customer selected. By collecting the input from thismilestone, the system may decide whether the application is eligible foractivation and, at the very end, send fulfilment requests.

In some embodiments, the process steps within the Terms and Conditionsmilestone are as follows: (a) Assemble (retrieve) Terms and Conditions(e.g., generate Terms and Conditions of a product offer based on productand customer. If customer has previously accepted Universal Terms andConditions this process may not be invoked); (b) Present Terms andConditions (e.g., present or deliver Terms and Conditions to thecustomer with instructions for indicated (non)acceptance); (c) ReviewTerms and Conditions (e.g., provide customer with the opportunity andmeans to review Terms and Conditions and make an informed decision onwhether to proceed); and (d) Accept Terms and Conditions (e.g., customerconfirms (non)acceptance of Terms and Conditions).

In some embodiments, Terms and Conditions are product specific and mayvary significantly from product to product. Certain add-onoptions/features (e.g., overdrafts) may generate additional Terms andConditions.

In some embodiments, Universal Terms and Conditions may be provided,which can eliminate the need to present and agree Terms and Conditionsto existing customers applying for new products. Certain exceptions mayapply (e.g., lending terms, ‘white label’ cards such as department storecredit cards, etc.)

-   -   Present Terms and Conditions/Disclosures. In some embodiments,        the process for presenting the terms and conditions/disclosures        to the customer or user is as follows. Each entity may have its        own terms and conditions, in its own language. There are no        system specific requirements for T&C or disclosures.

There are various types of T&Cs/disclosures which can be presented tothe user. For example, (a) Consolidated T&C: Refers to a masteragreement with the bank (e.g. “I contract you to be my bank, pull acredit bureau, etc.”); and (b) Other T&Cs and Disclosures: Productspecific documents which may or may not require a signature from thecustomer.

Preferably, the system generates the consolidated Terms and Conditions;however, some entities may not have the consolidated Terms andConditions in place. The system is configurable to provide the option ofproduct specific Terms and Conditions for such entities.

In some embodiments, processes related to the ongoing creation,maintenance and amendment of the content of the Terms and Conditionsagreement as well as the relevant disclosures are handled by integrationto a content management solution (e.g., through a database, server,etc.). In other words, in some embodiments, the local Content ManagementSystem preferably manages all the disclosures as well as terms andconditions agreements and there is not any runtime stitching ofdisclosures within the AO system. Irrespective of the level, the systemsimply pulls all the appropriate terms and conditions documents(including necessary disclosures) configured for the respective entityand presents them to the customer or user. This is accomplished via an‘Integration Point’ in the Content Management System. The local entitiesare responsible for updating the T&C content to accommodate the newproducts as and when required. The content management system preferablyhandles multilingual Terms and Conditions and their respective characterbytes.

In some embodiments, the system merges static and dynamic data andpresents this information to the user/customer in the form of a T&C ordisclosure statement. The AO system may, for example, be responsible forretrieving rates and fees, where applicable, and passing thisinformation to the communications module. The AO system may also be therecipient of the output from the request to the ‘comms’ module.

The Terms and Conditions may be available in other ways outside of theAccount Opening process (e.g., Post booking—On Customer Profile, publicwebsite, etc.).

The system supports presentment of the T&C/Disclosures at various pointswithin the account opening process (in some embodiments, consolidatedT&Cs are only presented once, but product level T&Cs are available foreach product). The system also supports presentment of a staticT&C/disclosure (the T&C/Disclosure may be retrieved from a ContentManagement solution such as a database, server, webpage, etc. and mayinclude additional information such as rates and fees), receipt of apre-assembled T&C (including dynamic rates and fees) for presentment tothe customer, and/or presentment of T&Cs/Disclosures in multiplelanguages (including double byte characters).

In some embodiments, the Terms and Conditions process for new andexisting customers is the same, except, for example, where aConsolidated agreement has previously been accepted. If a customer hasalready signed a Consolidated agreement, he/she may not be presentedwith another again when applying for a new product, if that sameconsolidated agreement also covers the subsequent product(s) beingapplied for.

The Terms and Conditions documents are available to generate in variousforms (e.g., PDF, HTML, audio format, large print, Braille, etc.) as perthe local specifications. The Terms and Conditions document content fora particular entity may, in some embodiments, be static over a period.The entity specific Terms and Conditions content management ispreferably performed locally.

The system supports the ability to present product specific terms andconditions disclosures, for example where a Consolidated agreement isnot applicable or allowed by local regulatory environments (e.g.,balance transfer terms and conditions disclosures related to Fundingmilestone—the system is configurable to display the terms and conditionsbefore or after executing the balance transfer request as per therequirement of local business compliance regulations).

This extends to the scenario where there may be product options relatedto a chosen product that attracts different terms and conditions to theunderlying product. For example a checking account may have its ownterms and conditions, but if an overdraft is added, there may be aseparate terms and conditions required for the overdraft. The systemsupports the presentation of both sets of the terms and conditions forscenarios such as this.

When new products are added by the local entities, the system supportsthe ability of the entities to produce new terms and conditions in thecontent management solution employed and to be able to link them to theaccount application process.

Within each entity (e.g., country), the system can present appropriateT&Cs based on the customer/user's location (e.g., the customer may bepresented with different T&Cs depending on where they are attempting toopen an account—“upstate” vs. “downstate,” etc.).

If the terms and conditions contain product specific information, thenthe Product Selection milestone may become a mandatory pre-requisite tothe Terms and Conditions milestone.

The entity can configure (business without IT intervention) for eachproduct whether the Terms and Conditions are to be accepted passively(no user input selection is required) or whether there must be an activeacceptance of Terms and Conditions.

The Terms and Conditions may change based on the configuration of theproduct. The selection of configuration options may enable/disableentity-defined sections of the Terms and Conditions.

-   -   Review Terms and Conditions/Disclosures. In this step, the        customer is given the opportunity to read and review the Terms        and Conditions along with other applicable disclosures presented        to him.

The customer may request the Terms and Conditions as well as Disclosuresby various different communication methods (e.g., e-mail, mail, downloadfrom website, print from website, fax, etc.). If the terms andconditions/disclosures are requested by an outbound communication method(e.g., not from website by customer), then a request may be issued tothe Communications Module to issue the terms and conditions/disclosuresby the method requested. For example, a mail request may be sent (e.g.,by an email or queue) to the common communication module and/orfulfilment office depending on local entities' specifications. A usermay also choose to email the terms and conditions to an email address.For an existing customer or for a new customer who has completed the“Enter Applicant Data” milestone, the email may be pre-filled, with theability to change the email. The user may verify if that is the correctemail; if so, the user may send a request to the common communicationmodule via appropriate system options. The user may then receive aconfirmation note that an email is sent, and be re-routed to theoriginal “brief description” page. If the customer is new and has notfulfilled the “Enter Applicant Data” milestone, the entry may be blank,allowing the user to fill in the data. The terms and conditions arepreferably provided in Portable Document Format (PDF). Faxing may alsobe used to deliver terms and conditions to the customer (e.g., viaintegration point with the common communication module also for thesecommunication modes). The system also supports Customer Self Service—forexample, users may print via the Internet browser and/or Adobe printoptions.

In some embodiments, the communications module generates “Chasers” toremind the customer to submit a pending document. Once a consolidatedT&C acceptance is sent back by customer, the acceptance may be logged sothat the system will not ask for the consolidated T&C acceptance in thefuture from the same customer, if they apply for a product that alsouses the same consolidated T&C.

Metrics may be recorded of occurrences during this process to see howusers are using the system during the terms and conditions phase.Metrics may include, for example, logging of chasers sent (includingdate/time), ageing details from when terms and conditions were sent towhen they were accepted, how many people exit during the terms andconditions page, how long they spent on the page viewing the terms andconditions, etc.

The system provides the option to present the product specific terms andconditions as well as disclosures wherever required. In someembodiments, the system allows a user to print a T&C Disclosure (in aprinter friendly way) in order to capture wet signature. Scanning andarchiving of the wet signed paper documentation may or may not besupported.

Preferably, the system keeps the history of all T&C communication.Business representatives may view this communication history outside ofthe account opening module for any future reference or query from thecustomer (e.g., as part of a customer contact history functionassociated to the customer profile).

In some embodiments, if a joint customer requests the terms andconditions, then they are issued by the communication method requestedor are available to download or print from the public website. Theprimary account holder does not receive a copy of the joint accountholder's terms and conditions. For joint applications, the entity mayconfigure (business without IT intervention) for each product whether ornot only the Joint first applicant must accept Terms and Conditions orwhether all joint applicants must accept Terms and Conditions.

The system supports the ability for Staff users to email the Terms andConditions from the in-progress application to the customer. Thisemailing preferably uses the email address provided on the applicationform and may be configured by an entity to take place automatically.Staff users may also send to a print workflow the Terms and Conditionsand/or any documentation related to the application from the in-progressapplication. This may be mailed to the customer using the addressprovided on the application form.

-   -   Accept Terms and Conditions/Disclosures. Once the Terms and        Conditions are presented to the customer, the customer has the        ability to “accept” the terms and conditions through various        applicable modes. Where passive acceptance is not applicable,        this may be achieved by: Allowing the user an on-screen option        to indicate acceptance of the terms and conditions for interne        and branch channels; Signing if a wet signature is needed; or        Verbal confirmation and/or mail/email out. Where passive        acceptance is supported, formal acceptance may occur outside of        the account opening process (e.g., the Customer could be deemed        to have accepted the terms and conditions upon completion of        first banking or credit card transaction, or if indication of        non-acceptance has not been received within a prescribed        period), and the System skips the step of active acceptance        (e.g., via interaction on a webpage, wet signature, or verbal        acceptance) and continues with completing the milestone.

Customer Channel: Customers may be either be given an on-screen optionto indicate their acceptance of the terms and conditions for non passiveacceptance. If passive acceptance is being used, the customer does nothave to do anything on-screen, as the terms and conditions will beaccepted later when the customer carries out the action that meanspassive acceptance has taken place.

Staff Channel: There may be differing scenarios depending on the channel(call center or branch) involved. For a call center, for example, theterms and conditions may be read out to the customer and a verbalacceptance may be requested. Alternatively, the terms and conditions maybe physically sent to the customer and the customer will have to returnthem with an indication of acceptance. For branch, again the customerwill have to indicate in some way that they accept the terms andconditions. The branch staff may, for example, be able to turn thescreen around and ask the customer to choose the acceptance option, orthey may print the terms and conditions for the customer to sign. Thespecific practice is preferably determined by local practice andregulatory environments and how the customer journeys are configured bythe local entity. Passive and non-passive acceptance may also be decidedby each entity. Passive or non-passive acceptance choice may be byproduct. For example, an entity could have a mixture of products, somewith passive and some with non-passive acceptance allowed.

The system facilitates the cross channel usage by the customer tocomplete the T&C milestone. The system may record the history of variouschannels used by the customer to complete the T&C milestone.

The system provides the ability to choose the acceptance mode for aspecific entity. That is, the system can be configured to allow passiveor non-passive acceptance as per the need of a specific entity. Theability to pend an application while awaiting acceptance of T&C is alsosupported.

For a joint application, each applicant may need to sign/accept his/herown T&C document. For CMB customers, multiple individuals (e.g.,partners, director) may need to sign/accept the T&C in a companycapacity.

The system preferably records the version of a Consolidated Agreementand other terms and conditions that have been accepted. The date, timeand version details of the accepted terms and conditions are logged andstored and available to retrieve at a later date so it is clear when acustomer has accepted the terms and conditions and what they were. Somedisclosures may be only for the sake of customer information, and do notneed to be accepted. This step may involve keeping a central copy ofeach terms and conditions version so the correct one can be referred towhen required. Preferably all required additional information iscaptured by the customer/user prior to ‘accepting’ the conditions.

The system should allow the user enough time to review and accept theterms and conditions without causing the user session to time out andexpire before the action has been completed. Warnings may be provided ifthe session is at risk of expiring. In some embodiments, the user may berequested to indicate on-screen whether they want the session to remainopen, and the time period to expiry will begin again if the customerindicates that they do wish the session to remain open.

In some embodiments, the system may, for example, track and record thetime for which the T&C agreement is open for Customer review. Thisinformation may also be used for the metrics for Account Opening. Aspart of the overall AO process, there may be a timeout session (e.g., apop window asking if the customer wants to continue the session). Insome embodiments, there may be a separate timeout session as part ofT&C's (e.g., so it can be configured for longer). These periods areconfigurable at the channel level. Time limits are preferably a Businessmaintainable parameter. On the online channel, where the customerselects to end the session, if they haven't already done so, they may beasked if they want to save the application.

The diagrams in FIGS. 23 and 24 illustrate an exemplary user'sinteraction with the system, in scenarios where a wet signature is/isnot required. FIG. 25 is a flow diagram showing exemplary terms andconditions scenarios for different customer channels. These are justsome of the example scenarios that can exist, but there are morepossible.

-   -   Display ISF Investment Agreements. As used herein, ISF refers to        a banking proposition that is consistent with Islamic law and        guided by Islamic economics. This proposition is in use by        Middle East and Gulf region entities, as well as Malaysia. This        is the process to display ISF investment agreement documents for        acceptance when a customer opens an ISF Commodity based        investment account. Exemplary ISF Investment Agreement Documents        include Murabaha Investment Agreement (MIA), Purchase Power of        Attorney (PPA), and Sale Power of Attorney (SPA).

Preferably all documents are displayed once when opening an ISFCommodity based investment account for the first time. Individualdocuments may be redisplayed for acceptance when opening an ISFCommodity based investment account if any change is made to thedocuments. Sale Power of Attorney may be redisplayed for acceptance ifthe previously selected agent is no longer valid. Records of eachversion and date of accepted by the customer are preferably retained forthe life of each customer record. If/when the customer record isdeleted, records pertaining to these forms may also be purged. Allversions of documents are preferably retained for future possibleinquiry.

Decision

This section describes the functionality of the Account Opening Decisionmilestone. This milestone is a single piece of the account openingjigsaw that works in conjunction with the other milestones defined foraccount opening. Decision is the process of determining if a customer isqualified for the product(s) applied for based on business rules andstrategies.

In some embodiments, Decision is the final outcome of a series ofdecisions made throughout the Account Opening process, some of which mayoptionally be made by other decision systems that reside outside ofAccount Opening system). A final decision may be the result of thedeployment of business rules and strategies at various entry and callpoints, collectively referred to as sub-decisions.

At its most general level, the Decision process determines whether theapplicant receives the product he requested, is denied the requestedproduct, is offered another product as an alternative option, or in itsplace, or is referred for manual review.

Preferably, a final decision of Approve or Decline may be obtained viaautomation with minimal need for a Refer decision resulting in queuemanagement. As with the other milestones, Decision complies with localregulations and supports the ability to capture metrics on all areaswithin the Account Opening process to facilitate ‘test and learn’tactics.

The description below refers to the customer self service channel. Wherevariations exist for other channels, they are noted.

At this point, all customer and account data required to make a decisionshould be completed and available. Decisions are preferably automatedand may be fulfilled by core and local decision support systems, basedon local business rules. However, in some cases, the degree to which theprocess is fully automated may be constrained by local regulatoryrequirements and decision systems or technical solutions.

In some embodiments, the Account Opening system may interface to variousdecision support systems (e.g., SMG3 or DFS decision engine). Forexample, the system has the ability to interface with third parties andlocal decisioning systems for information/data to be utilized insub-decisioning business rules (e.g., interface to credit bureau reportwith ability to bring data back for decisioning). In some embodiments,the Account Opening system may feed data to other decisioning systems tomake the decision. The Account Opening system then receives the finaldecision as a response from these decisioning systems, actions it, andcommunicates the end result to the users. Optimization andstandardization of credit/lending decision requirements may bedetermined at a broader level. The Account Opening system has theability to react to the outputs from other decision systems according tothe business rules defined by the entity and consequently carry out thenext step.

The decision engine can handle a variety a variety of different dataformats in its input and output interface. It can handle a single datablocks (source) or multiple data blocks (sources).

In some embodiments, decisioning capabilities may include a DuplicateCustomer Check. As part of regional matched ID processes, for example,SMG3 can assess all partial and full matches for all NAB applicants, andbased on business rules, can output referral for manual review. In otherembodiments, decisioning capabilities may include a DuplicateApplication Check. SMG3 can assess all potential matches of applicationsextracted from a WIP table, and based on business rules within SMG3, caneither deny current application or output for manual review.

In some embodiments, decisions related to Validate Identification andProduct Selection are not included in this milestone. In someembodiments, the account opening system itself does not house/holdresponsibility for the decision logic (e.g., the business rules requiredfor the decision making process)—this logic may reside outside thesystem.

In some embodiments, the Decision Activities are as follows. “Definelocal entity decision system and output” refers to the process by whichthe system determines (based on business rules established within theaccount opening system) when, if and for what product a query to aDecision system is required. The system supports a means of managingwith the account opening system what Decision Systems need to be calledbased on various elements (like Product Selected). “Retrieve and Action”refers to the process of retrieving a decision, returning the result tothe account opening system, and determining whether the decisionmilestone has been fulfilled (final decision) or further decisioningaction is required. The area of decisioning may include Credit Checking,Fraud Checking and/or other local regulations. “Multiple Decisions”refers to the fact that decisions occur multiple times in the AOprocess. The AO system preferably supports the decision-making processin a modular fashion, for example where the local decision system couldbe called multiple times for one application. The following scenariosare examples that may require multiple decisions within one AO process:(a) Multiple decisions may be required for credit, fraud,up-sell/down-sell before a final decision is reached; (b) In a ‘refer’scenario, re-decisioning may be required upon a pending process iscompleted. “Final Decision” refers to the ability of the AO system totranslate the final decision from the local decision system andcommunicate it to the applicant(s). The message details, format, andmethod may be maintainable by the business. This step may haveinterdependencies with the Fulfilment Milestone requirements and theIntegrated Customer Communications Module requirements. “MilestoneStatus” refers to the process of determining the milestone status basedon the output of a final decision.

FIG. 26 shows a schematic overview of the Decision process, according tosome embodiments. Additional details on the Decision Activities arebelow.

-   -   Define Local Entity Decision System and Output. This activity        may be in place for one or more of: Sole and Joint Applications;        Applications by new or existing customers; Applications for        Savings, Checking, Credit Card and Term Deposit and        Overdraft/Line of Credit accounts; Applications received through        Internet, Branch/Staff or Call Center Channels; and Applications        for PFS or Retail CMB.

In some embodiments, there are entity-specific decision requirements,including supporting decision systems and input and outputs. The systemallows entities to define the source of decision systems and otheractivities (e.g., the output of these decision systems) required todecision a product application based on the products, channels, entitiesand other business rules (e.g., SMG3, ChexSystems, etc.). The AccountOpening system preferably provides an integration point to the decisionsystem that is aligned with the Bank's standards (e.g., SMG3). Entitiesadopting any local decision system that is not Bank standard may requireadditional implementation activities to integrate with AO system. FIG.27 is a is a diagram showing exemplary local entity decision systems.

The system supports automated, partially automated, and manual decisionprocesses. For example, Decisions may be completely automated if anapplication is approved or declined in real time. Decisions may bepartially automated where a decision system cannot complete a decisionand the decision is referred for some kind of follow-up action(s).Manual decisions may be completed offline, for example when anapplication is submitted but subject to review by a staff member at alater time.

The information required to make a decision may vary by entity and bydecision system. In some embodiments, this information is captured inother Account Opening milestones, for example Gather Application Dataand Product Selection/Configuration, and constitutes the input to thisactivity. The system may also, alternatively or in addition, provideinput to the decision system based on the data captured in other AccountOpening milestones.

The system has the ability to provide to a user a decision based on theinputs of the user and the business rules, including, for example: WatchList checking (terrorists and money launderers, etc.); Black Listchecking (credit problems, arrears, write offs, bankrupts, etc.); andWhite List checking (positive repayment history on credit agreements,etc.). The decision and checking may be performed on sole applicants,joint applicants, and/or authorized users. The business is able toconfigure which checks are completed for various involved parties, aswell as whether these checks are done in AO or outside of AO. The listmay include other checks in addition to the ones mentioned above (i.e.,the list is not exhaustive), provided local systems can support them.

-   -   Retrieve and Action Decision. The system supports a means of        retrieving a decision for an application. The output of these        decision systems may vary by entity and by decision system. The        system also provides a means for an entity to define the next        step required to react to the decision output. The options may        include, for example, continuing with the decision process or        arriving at the final decision.

In some embodiments, the output of the final decision is classified withone of the following statuses:

-   -   Accept: The customer is qualified for the product applied for.        Account Opening system preferably retrieves the reason for an        application being accepted.    -   Reject: The customer is not qualified for the product applied        for. Account Opening system preferably retrieves the reason of        an application being rejected. Where a product is declined,        either real-time or offline, a closed lead may be automatically        created for that product (e.g., to ensure that the customer        isn't ‘marketed’ for this product).    -   Refer: The system has not yet determined if a customer is        qualified for the product applied for since further information        is required to reach a final decision. Account Opening system        preferably retrieves the reason of an application being        referred.

In various embodiments, exemplary decisioning capabilities are asfollows:

Credit decision: Approved/Denied—Utilizing credit risk assessmentstrategies built within SMG3, and data passed into SMG3 from internaland external sources (e.g., bureau data), SMG3 makes an automatedapproved/denied decision. This can include decisioningmulti-product/multi-party applications.

Credit decision: Pending—Where an initial approved/denied decisioncannot be output during first call to decision engine, SMG3 can output apending decision and reason code, which is mapped into a QMS work item.SMG3 can also de-duplicate reason codes following a re-decision (e.g.,if output once, do not output the same reason again).

Credit decision: Up-sell/Down-sell—Similar to credit decision, usingstrategies built within SMG3, where the applicant/s qualify, SMG3 canoutput an up-sell on the product applied for. If applicant/s do notqualify for the product applied for, SMG3 can output a down-sell offeron either the product or attribute of the product.

Cross-Sell Decision—As part of the credit assessment for the productapplied for, SMG3 can also output details of other products that theapplicant/s may also qualify for.

A staff member/system administrator with correct entitlements may beable to override the decision of each product within the applicationpresented during the application, and the application status itself. Forexample, if a “reject” or “refer” decision is returned, then the staffmember/system administrator can change the decision to “accepted” foreach product and/or the application overall. The changes may be made onan individual milestone or the application status as a whole.

-   -   Multiple Decisions. In some embodiments, the system supports        scenarios wherein the decision system returns a decision, but it        is not the final decision. The Account Opening system may, for        example, take the appropriate next steps then return back to the        local decision system for the next decision. This process may be        iterative in nature and continue until reaching the final        decision, as identified by the local decision system.    -   Final Decision. This section describes the distinct set of        activities required to action a final decision. The final        decision marks the conclusion of the decision milestone.

The system provides the ability for entities to define and maintain themeans and content of the final decision communicated to the applicant.All decision result information can be stored on the system for futurereference and retrieval. The storage time for such information isconfigurable by the local entities.

Based on local Account Opening process rules and the entity's definedcustomer journey, the system may do one or more of the following:communicate the decision to the user in real time (for example, via amessage on screen), or trigger a communication activity through anotherchannel (for example, email).

-   -   Milestone Status. The results of the decision process detail        whether this milestone is 1) satisfied, 2) not satisfied or 3)        pending. In some embodiments, the decision milestone status is        satisfied when the decision is approve or decline; the decision        milestone status is not satisfied when the decision making        process is not started or incomplete. The decision milestone        status is pending when there are outstanding processes to be        completed such as a refer decision.

Configure Product

Product Configuration is the process by which a customer selects (ordeclines) and personalizes optional product features, services andassociated products or options. At least one product should be selectedbefore the product options are offered. Within this milestone, the term‘option’ is used to describe product features, services and associatedproducts that may be optionally selected (or declined) and personalizedby a customer.

In some embodiments, a core set of product options includes thefollowing. Product Options not listed may be specified and deployed byeach regional implementation.

Internet Banking

Phone Banking

ATM/Debit Card

Contact Preference

Account Nickname

Statement Options

Dispensing Note

Order and Personalize Check Book for Checking Account

Overdraft Protection

Maturity Instructions for Term Deposits

SMS/EMAIL and Alert Services

Product Pricing.

Correspondence Address

Designate Relationship Manager

Standing instruction for inbound flow of funds (for both Deposit andCredit Cards)

Signing Instructions.

Reward programs Enrollment

Credit Protection

Plastic choice card design

Secondary cardholders

Currencies for multi-currency product

In some embodiments, the customer is provided with a list of productoptions, services, and associated products from which the customerselects (or declines) and personalizes the main product previouslyselected. The system preferably provides the ability to offer relevantproduct options to the customer for strengthening the customer-bankrelationship. As described for other milestones, the system has theability to capture metrics on all areas within the AO process tofacilitate ‘test and learn’ tactics.

In some embodiments, the business view is the status of the account(whether or not it has actually been booked/activated) and has nobearing on whether or not products can be configured. The milestone isto set up products during the account opening process. There ispreferably no after-AO process unless specifically stated (e.g., onlinereset or offline reset upon first login after AO).

In some embodiments, in the joint process, product level options may beconfigured by the primary applicant while customer level options may beconfigured by each applicant.

Product Options may be dependent, for example, on entity, customer type(new or existing), channel, and/or product. However, Businesslogic/rules that govern which options should be offered based on a givenproduct may be defined by local entity. In some embodiments, Businessspecifications do not include any governance rules around how toassemble the different journeys; assembly is solelybusiness-configurable. The degree to which each product option is fullydeployed or applicable may be constrained by local business practices.

The business has the ability to add/delete product attributes without anIT release. Once created/deleted, the business has the capability toestablish rules for the display of the attribute (e.g., based onproduct, CRM/Sales engine results, products/services already held,etc.).

In some embodiments, Product Selection is an input in to ConfigureProduct.

In some embodiments, the same set of product options is available tostaff and to the customers.

Each “Product Option” provides specific functionality and is a piecethat can be re-used across different modules or sub-systems. Forexample, Order Check Book could be re-used by a product like SelectCredit, and ATM/Debit Card could be re-used when servicing/maintainingaccounts, etc.

The AO system is preferably host agnostic and supports the ability to‘plug into’ any existing banking host system. Business/validation rulesthat exist in the back-end systems may or may not be replicated on theFE.

The diagram in FIG. 28 shows one way in which the Configure Product andProduct Selection Milestones may relate and how they could interact withother Milestones. There is a Strong Dependency between Product Selectionand Configure Product. Basically the Product Options to offer aredirectly dependent on the product previously selected. The business hasthe capability to configure the products to be offered and the set ofproduct options available for each product. In some embodiments, anintegration point may be provided to an analysis/sales engine (possiblya CRM or sales engine or cross sales) for determining the possible ormost adequate product options to offer (including cross sell). AfterProduct Selection has been completed and before the Configure Productmilestone, some other milestone could have been “performed,” and thenafter Configure Product some other milestone could take place. FIG. 28is only an example of a possible Journey.

FIG. 29 shows an overview of the Product Configuration process, which isdescribed in more detail below.

-   -   Available Product Options. This section describes the different        means the system provides for determining what product options        will be available during the account opening process. An        integration point to a decisioning/sales engine may or may not        be provided.

The system can present to the customer different product options thatare applicable to the core product selected according to either FixedProduct Options or Variable Product options.

Fixed Product Options are those that are “strongly” attached to aproduct when defining the Customer Experience and are preferably alwayspresented the same way. Within this group the system provides theability for the entity to determine mandatory product options (theseoptions are attached to the product by default and the customer has nochoice for deselecting/selecting) and “optional” product options (theseoptions are presented, possibly pre-selected, but the customer can optto select/de-select them; examples include Internet Banking, ContactPreferences and Statements type).

Variable Product options are those defined to be determined byintegrating with an analysis/sales tool by which, based on configurablebusiness rules, based on the existing customer information and dataavailable at that time, the system evaluates and decides the bestproduct option to present to customer. For example, for a situationwhere one customer is applying for a checking account, the system isconfigured in a way that for checking accounts it evaluates what typeOverdraft Product is the best offer for the customer. After performingthe analysis the system may present to the customer: “You qualify for anOverdraft Gold product, would you like to apply for it?” For a differentcustomer, the overdraft option presented may be “Bronze Overdraft” basedon the analysis performed. Another example may be offering an ATM/Debitcard; the system is configured to evaluate what type of ATM/Debit Cardwould be best for the customer and to present the appropriate ATM/DebitCard as an option to select.

-   -   Present Available Options. This section describes how the system        may present various options to the customer for further        personalization. In some embodiments, the system presents the        product options as specified on the “Available Product Options”        section above.

In some embodiments, product options are presented already“pre-selected.” Pre-selection may be: (a) Pre-Defined by the use of thebusiness rules managed through the AO system (e.g., using a contentmanagement tool); or (b) Driven by analyzing current status of existingoptions, basically at applicant level (e.g., Internet Banking could bepresented as “selected” because the customer already has PIB).

The presentation of product options attributes may be based on variousbusiness definitions such as: Default Values; Data Entry Type (Togglebuttons, checkboxes, date field, etc.); Mandatory Attributes; EmbeddedValidation Rule; etc. Product Options include Product Level options andApplicant Level options.

The system may present the product options in the order and/or sequenceas they were specified or designed when the various “Customer Journeys”were configured by the business. The proposed user/customer experiencemay be provided based on the user experience framework. The customer canselect whether or not that specific product option is attached to theproduct being opened, except, for example, in cases where options aremandatory or pre-selected by the primary applicant.

Preferably, the system presents the product options that are applicableto the core product selected itself (e.g., checking, savings, creditcard) and requests them just once per application during the primaryapplicant processing. In some embodiments, they may be shown as adefault to the secondary applicant. These options are “Product Level”Options, and are applicable for single and joint applications.

For joint applications, the system may present product options that areapplicable for each “applicant” of one application and request them onceper applicant. These options are “Applicant Level” Options. For example,the Internet Banking product options may be presented to each applicantof one application as they are Applicant Level options.

For a Bundle Product such as Student Package (including Savings andCredit Card products), Product Options applicable may include: InternetBanking; ATM/Debit Card; Account Nickname; Credit Protection; RewardsProgram; Standing Instructions. The system may present the productoptions just once as this is a bundle product and “bundle products” aretreated by the AO system as one single product. In the scenario that abundle product is for a joint account, the requirements specified forSingle and Joint applicants still apply.

When multiple products are being processed, the system supports thecapture of product options associated to each core product. Multipleproducts are preferably processed one at a time. For “Applicant level”product options, the system may pre-fill data fields with the previousinputs.

The system can pre-fill any data field that would be captured during theConfigure Product milestone with the data that has been obtainedpreviously. For example, for the Statement option, the system maypre-fill the email address with the one captured before. ForCorrespondence Address, the system may pre-fill data fields withcustomer address if it doesn't exist previously.

-   -   Personalize. This section describes how the customer selects (or        declines) the product options presented and then personalizes        them.

The customer indicates the product options that he wants attached to theaccount being opened. The user experience and interaction with thesystem preferably follow those guidelines proposed by the userexperience framework. For each product option selected, the customer maybe presented with data for entry or for review if that data alreadyexists. Where applicable and configured for that, capturing Credentialsmay be performed during the account opening process. As used herein, ‘NoFulfilment applicable’ means that no ‘material’ will be sent to thecustomer.

The system provides the customer the ability to select/de-select aproduct option. The system enables the capture of additional data fields(or re-use of existing data) for one product option once the option hasbeen selected by the customer. Selection mode input may be designed anddetermined by the user experience framework.

The business may determine what data attributes presented to thecustomer will require an “update” on the local system. For example, insome embodiments, an email address is required. The system may presentand allow the customer to update this field used for the account. Thebusiness may indicate that the value entered on this address will updatethe customer profile.

For joint applications, the system may provide to each account owner orapplicant the ability to personalize his/her own set of options. Forthose product options applicable at product level, the system maypresent these product options to the first applicant to “personalize”them.

The system provides the capability for defining dependency rules betweenproduct options, application attributes, and/or customer profileattributes to be evaluated during the account opening process. Forexample, a customer who has opted for not having internet access may notbe able to opt for e-statements.

-   -   Applicant Level Options. The following section lists four        Applicant Level Options and specifications. Preferably, these        options are presented to each applicant.

1. Internet Banking: Internet banking allows customers conduct theirbanking online. This product option may be applicable to both personalcustomers (PFS) and commercial customers (CMB).

For existing customers, the system may provide the ability for thecustomer to show any other existing accounts that the customer has andindicate whether or not the account(s) is/are linked to the InternetBanking Access. The system may allow to link/de-link any of thesePresented accounts to internet banking. For accounts opened via internet(or any channel), the accounts may be added to the profile instantly andbe viewable and transactable via any channel. De-select may be possibleat any time.

For example: An existing customer has one checking card with internetaccess. This same customer enters the process of opening a savingaccount and when prompted for internet access he/she deselects theinternet access option (meaning he/she does not want this option).Therefore he/she has one checking account which he/she can “see” on-lineand one savings account which he/she cannot see online. Later, the samecustomer begins opening a credit card. This time the customer selectsfor having internet access for viewing this new “credit card” on-line.Now the system shows to the customer that he/she has a checking accountwhich is accessible online and a savings account which is not accessibleonline.

In some embodiments, credentials (User ID, Passwords and/or PINs) mustbe requested and set during the account opening process as part of theConfigure Product milestone. The applicant may select his/her preferredcredentials vs. being served credentials. This refers to alternatecredentials (e.g., debit card/PIN) instead of username and password.There may be variations on the process depending on the channel andlocal capability. For example, Credential Establishment may be performedon the channel where the account opening is taking place whereasCredential Delivery may be fulfilled through a different channel.Underlying systems may restrict the delivery of the credentials. Table 3describes credential establishment by different channels. All providereal-time Internet Banking Credential creation and immediate access toservices by customer.

TABLE 3 Applying Channel Credential Establishment Internet Online -Credentials may be set by customer online in real-time. The system mayrequire partial establishment of credentials with delivery of tokenthrough mail or in branch. Call Center Staff Assisted - applicant maytell staff to create part of his credential and the other part will bedelivered via another channel (e.g., email, SMS, IVR) Automated (IVR)-Credentials may be set by customer using the IVR or else they may beprovided temporary credentials to use to go online and create permanentcredentials. Branch Staff Assisted - applicant may tell staff to createpart of his credential and the other part will be delivered via anotherchannel (e.g., email, SMS, IVR, secure print)

In some embodiments, the function or service for setting up credentialsis not built as part of the Account Opening system; rather, the AOsystem leverages this from local systems. In some embodiments, forexisting customers with existing internet banking access, the system maynot provide the option for establishing his/her internet Credentialsduring the account opening session.

In some embodiments, for example for CMB, the system provides theability to designate authorized users and to set their credentials onthe session.

In some embodiments, the system provides new-to-bank customers theability to create Customer Authentication Module (CAM) credentials andregister for Internet Banking during the AO process if the applicationis approved (Staff and Internet channels, including within theStaff/Call Center environment). At the end of the process the user islogged in. The new customer may be required to complete CAM resetcredentials upon first login after the AO process. At the end of theAccount Opening process if the account has not been opened the user maybe presented the status of the application. At the end of the process ifthe account has been opened but not yet activated the user may havelimited internet banking access (e.g., account summary with pendingaccount visible showing pending balance).

The selection of “Register for Internet Banking” within the AccountOpening process supports yes and no for all channels.

2. Phone Banking: Telephone banking is a service provided by a financialinstitution which allows its customers to perform transactions over thetelephone. This product option is applicable to both personal customers(PFS) and commercial customers (CMB).

For existing customers, the system provides the ability for the customerto present any other existing accounts that the customer has andindicate whether or not the account(s) is/are linked to the PhoneAccess. The system may allow to link/de-link any of these Presentedaccounts to phone banking Accounts opened via the phone can beauto-linked to the customer profile instantly and be viewable andtransactable via any channel. For accounts opened via other channels,accounts may also be added to the profile instantly. In someembodiments, credentials (User ID, Passwords and/or PINs) must requestedand be set during the account opening process as part of the ConfigureProduct milestone.

Real-time creation of Phone Banking Credentials and immediate access toservices by customer are provided. Credential establishment for PhoneBanking is as given above in Table 3.

3. Debit/ATM Card: Debit and ATM cards are issued by banks, for example,to give to the customer flexibility in the way they perform somefinancial transactions and the way they can make purchases. This productoption is applicable to both personal customers (PFS) and commercialcustomers (CMB). The core functionality the system provides is to allowthe customer (each applicant) to select/indicate whether or not he/shewants a card.

In some embodiments, the system may allow to link new accounts beingopened during the session to the card that the customer has selected(either the new one or existing one). The system may analyze thecustomer information for determining existence of previous Debit/ATMcards and prompt the customer for the option of re-using/linking the newaccount to one of them or getting a new one.

For a face-to-face channel, when the customer has chosen to be issued anew card, the system may provide the ability to use a pre-embossed card.This pre-embossed card has already a card number on it that the systemwill provide the ability to capture for associating it to the newaccount just being opened.

The limit of accounts that may be linked to a Debit/ATM card Businessmaintainable.

In some embodiments, credentials (User ID, Passwords and/or PINs) mustrequested and be set during the account opening process as part of theConfigure Product milestone. In some embodiments, system capabilitiesfor ATM/debit card issuance/PIN generation capabilities are irrespectiveof originating channel of the application.

An existing customer can, for example, link an existing debit card to anew account, or get a new card dedicated to the new account. Types ofaccounts that are supported for this linking process are businessconfigurable. For multi-product applications the customer may select tolink to an existing card, by each product, or request a new card. Inaddition, all the products as part of a multiproduct can be linked toone newly ordered card.

4. Contact Preferences: The system supports the capture, during theConfigure Product milestone, of some of the customer contactpreferences. Core contact preferences may include: Marketingsolicitation (customers can choose how to be marketed, e.g., by mail,post, telephone, mobile message or secure e-message; this option mayalso be referred to as “Opt in/Opt Out to Marketing”); Preferred ContactTimes (customers can indicate the best time, day and channel when theywant to be contacted by the bank); and Language Preference. For existingcustomers that previously set this option, the system may retrieve theexisting value for the customer and display it for the customer toupdate.

-   -   Product Level Options. The following section lists 17 exemplary        Product Level Options and specifications.

In some embodiments, only the primary applicant is able to maintain theproduct level options (in the case of joint accounts). The second partycan only update user level configuration.

There may be integration point to external/local systems and entitiesfor some options.

The configure section is flexible enough for the business to decide ifthey want to offer products that are a subset of another product (e.g.,e-statements and PIB) as two separate products. In such scenarios acustomer may be displayed an error message advising that this service isonly applicable if they select X service. There is preferably a core setof options per product.

The business is able to configure error messages/warnings relevant tothe selection/non-selection of certain product level options. Forexample, if a customer does not select e-statements as part of PIB, thebusiness may want to display a warning message saying that if they wantto continue/opt for paper statements, there will be a charge for this.

The entities may also choose to default some options for certainproducts if required (e.g., read only information). In addition, it maybe that entities want to support a specific customer journey; for theonline channel, for example, there may only be a ‘Yes’ option forinternet banking. The default/preferred options as defined by thebusiness may be different for staff channels.

1. Account Nickname: In some embodiments, the ‘Account Nickname’ is avery personal name that the customer will be able to associate tohis/her account. The setting up of the nickname recognition preferablyapplies to all channels. Local entity systems may determine how thisdisplayed/retrieved by channel post account opening. Where a customerselects the nickname option, as soon as the customer enters PIB at theend of the process, such a nickname is displayed for the relevantaccount. This information is preferably updated accordingly in the localback office system screen. The business may specify the validcharacters, minimum and maximum number of characters in line with theirhost system.

Nickname may be applicable to both PFS and CMB, and specific to the userlogging on. It is also preferably configurable per customer segment. Apersonal nickname may be based on a combination of the of internetprofile and account (e.g., for joint accounts Customer A can have anickname for account X. Customer B could choose a different nickname forthat same joint account).

2. Statement Options: Statements are account activity reports sent tothe customer for them to verify and ratify all transactions that anaccount has had in a period. This option may also include “StatementSuppression” capabilities.

In some embodiments, the e-statement indicator is checked by default forall product types (defaults configurable by entity). The user mayuncheck the e-statement indicator on the internet, branch and callcenter applications. This would imply that a paper statement is to begenerated. In some embodiments, if an e-statement is requested, aninternet banking indicator is mandatory.

Preferably, users are allowed across each channel to indicate theStatement Frequency. The values displayed in the list may beconfigurable to match the values in the underlying host systems thatapply to that product. For example, for Savings and Current Accounts,the Statement Frequency values are in the “PD” Standing Data Tablewithin Core Banking—this is the ‘Periodicity’ standing data table on SWHCore Banking and provides an example of where existing values can befound for sites that use SWH Core Banking systems. Such a table ispreferably entity configurable.

Routine changes to statement preferences (e.g., despatch code,frequency) that have not been collected at the time of account openingmay be serviced through other systems.

3. Dispensing Note: A ‘Dispensing Notice’ is a declaration used forjoint accounts only and gives customers the option to waive their rightto receiving statements. It gives the authority for only one customer toreceive statements for the joint account (e.g., party 1 would receive amonthly statement, party 2 would not receive anything).

Composite Statements list all accounts/products (Sole or Joint) held inthe name of the individual customer, in a single statement. The‘Dispensing Note’ feature may not apply in case of account levelstatements for Joint Accounts; sites may provide an option to customerto use composite statements as an alternate.

4. Order Check Book: Check Book is a book of checks issued to holders ofcertain type of account, typically checking accounts. In some cases,local check book order capabilities may be used.

5. Maturity Instructions: At the time of opening a term deposit account,the system may provide the option of capturing instructions to followwhen the deposit matures. This is configurable by entity, based on whatis currently supported on host systems. Options include, for example:

-   -   1. No maturity instruction. Deposit will be rolled over        automatically, principal plus interest. The customer should not        necessarily be forced to selection this option, but should be        made aware on screen that if they do not select one of the        following options this option will be the default.    -   2. Deposit principal will automatically be rolled over and the        interest paid separately (including account where this can be        transferred). This will occur at every maturity unless changed.    -   3. Both the principal and interest will be uplifted by to the        customer on maturity (including accounts where proceeds can be        transferred).    -   4. Customer can select to either add or withdraw a specified        amount to a specified account (internal account only). It should        be entity definable as to whether this instruction occurs at        every maturity or only the next one.    -   For options 2 and 3, the accounts and methods to which an entity        can transfer should be entity-definable.

After the customer has completed the maturity options above, thecustomer can review all the details relating to the term deposit (e.g.,interest rate, amount, maturity date, maturity instructions etc.) Thismay come after the funding (configurable by the business). In someembodiments, where this is a joint application, the second party may begiven an option to accept or decline the maturity instructions (but notchange). If they are declined, the account is not opened and variousexisting processes may apply.

6. Overdraft/Line of Credit: Overdraft/Line of Credit is offered bybanks to customers with a view to protect the customer's reputation.Sometimes it may be that a customer inadvertently issue a check for anamount in excess of the balance standing to the credit of his/heraccount. This refers to the PLOC product (Personal line of Creditproduct).

In these cases, the system may allow the customer to choose a creditcard or a line of credit (select credit) as an overdraft account. Thesystem may require a disclosure to be read when this product option isnot selected by the customer. In some embodiments, the products offeredmay be based on sales/CRM actions based on data entered by theapplicant.

7. SMS/EMAIL and Alerts: This product option refers to the service thebank provides to its customer for sending SMS/EMAIL messages and/orAlerts for some events happening around their accounts and/or somepersonal preferences. In some embodiments, the customer has to haveregistered/be a PIB customer for this service in order for them to beable to amend/delete the alerts.

8. Product Pricing: It may be a practice in some regions to have thecustomers haggle for higher interest rates for their placements (e.g.,with a member of staff). In absence of a Group Relationship Pricingmodule, the following may apply.

Pricing of products (product related fees, balance/activity relatedcharges, etc.) can be set up in the underlying product controls on hostsystems. There may be an ability to provide default interest andexchange rates, applicable to the customer based on theirsegmentation/classification/product type/currency, etc. There may alsobe defaults for pricing of channel related services (e.g., Servicecharge for phone/internet, Bundle pricing on the internet, etc.).

For Credit/Debit Interest Rates, preferential interest rates may beapplicable based on the host definitions (controls) for the underlyingproducts (e.g., Savings, Checking, Term Deposits) in the local entity,based on the customer (e.g., Class, Market Sector, product type,currency, etc. in the case of Core Banking). These preferential ratescan be invoked in any interest rate display or at the time of fulfilmentof the product opening, across channels.

Regarding Exchange Rates, preferential exchange rate spread (bycurrency) may be applicable to specific customers based on the hostdefinitions (controls) for the underlying customer, defined in the localentity. This exchange rate spread can be invoked in any interest ratedisplay or at the time of fulfilment of the product opening, acrosschannels.

Overrides to Interest Rate or Exchange Rates other than defaulted values(but within parameterized limits), via the Staff Channel may be allowed.Where a product system does not support pricing overrides, this optionshould not be available within the user journey for that entity. In someembodiments, changes to interest rates/exchange rates, post fulfilmentof account opening are not supported by the AO system.

Each relationship manager depending on his/her rank may have specialrate limits that he/she can give to a customer. In some embodiments, thehigher the rank of the relationship manager, the higher the ratedeviation that can be given.

In some embodiments, the system allows overwriting of rates and pricingduring the account opening process. These rates and prices are thoseobtained from the underlying/local business engine. Ability foroverwriting may be controlled by entitlements and the system may captureaudit trial data for tracing this type of overwrite.

In some embodiments, the rate and pricing offered may be based onsales/CRM actions based on data entered by the applicant and thecustomer information itself

9. Correspondence Address: Each applicant can set an address to whichhis/her correspondence is mailed for the specific product being opened.This may be in addition to the mailing address that a customer mayalready have. For existing customers, this address preferably defaultsto the existing mailing address if any. The system may provide theability to modify this address if needed.

10. Designate Relationship Manager: In some regions a distinctRelationship Manager (RM) may be assigned to two different accounts ofthe same customer. This option is flexible enough to allow the entitiesto display this as per the local needs. For example, for an existingcustomer, entities may choose to display the existing RM as a read onlyoption. For a new customer, once they have determined the branch thecustomer wishes to hold their account at, the entity may default an RM(depending on criteria provided by the customer such as income, etc.)and just display the full details to the customer. Sites may also allownew customers to be able to select from a list of RMs.

11. Standing instructions: In some embodiments, the option may beprovided to the customer for paying his/her credit card balance in full,just the minimum payment, or a percentage of the balance each month. Thecustomer is also asked to select the account that the money is debitedfrom. Each month thereafter, the amount is automatically debited fromthe account selected for their credit card. This Option may also bereferred to as a “Full, Minimum or Percentage payment” or “Regularpayment.”

12. Signing Instructions: This refers to the process for designatingpeople (and collecting their personal data) who are authorized for“signing” and/or “acting” on behalf of the account owner and thedifferent instructions and limits around them.

13. Rewards Programs: Various rewards programs may be offered (dependingon the type of product), such as Cash Back and Cash or Fly (Multiplechoice). This Option may also be referred as “Business Card RewardOptions” (CMB).

14. Credit Protection: This refers to repayment protection available oncredit cards to protect against accidents, sickness, unemployment anddeath.

15. Plastic choice card design: This is the option for selecting thetype of card.

16. Secondary Cardholders and Additional Cardholders: In someembodiments, the customer is presented with the option of designatingcardholders. Additional personal data may be required for eachcardholder. Both primary and secondary cardholder may have the optionfor receiving his/her own PIN during the session or by mail. This Optionmay also be referred as “Additional Card”, “Authorized Users,” or“Sub-accounts for commercial cards.”

In some embodiments, for credit cards, the system allows to designateone secondary cardholder and a number of additional cardholders. Thenumber of additional cardholders is preferably configurable. The systemmay request establishing/capturing card PIN credentials for thedifferent cardholders during the account opening process as part of theConfigure Product milestone.

17. Currency selection for multi-currency product: In some embodiments,for a multi-currency product, the user is presented with a list ofcurrencies for selection to be opened.

The Business entity can configure the list of currencies available forselection.

Generally, the system provides flexibility regarding the core set ofdata fields for modifying core data field attributes as perlocal/regional requirements (e.g., Change field label, field size fordisplay, validations, etc.). In some embodiments, there may additionalflexibility provided to cater for data that is not included in the coreset of data fields but is required by the specific region. For example:an Entity wants to begin collecting one new field associated to oneproduct or product option. The system supports the ability of thebusiness to do this without requiring coding and participation fromtechnology services. In other words, any addition to the set of fieldsand/or products/product options available can be ready for going liveimmediately after the entities define them.

When creating new or managing existing data attributes, the systemprovides the capability to set rules to determine what productsattributes to offer for which product and to whom they are offered at alocal level. For example, rules may consider the following: Productselected; Data in Application (including results fromCRM/sales/decisioning earlier in the app process); Current CustomerInformation; CRM/Sales engine results for the specific attribute (e.g.,overdraft option will be a credit card vs. line of credit based inputs);and/or Defined dependencies among options (e.g., can't have statementswithout a PIB account).

Funding

This section describes the functional specifications of the Accountopening Funding milestone. At this milestone, the system capturesinstructions to bring in funds, for example to a new deposit account (orbalance transfer for credit card or loans/mortgages, etc.).

Funding may be through Internet, Branch, Call Center, Self ServiceMachines (Kiosk and ATM), etc. Funding through Self Service Machines(Kiosk and ATM) may occur when the Account Opening application is madeavailable through these machines. In some embodiments, funds arrivingfrom a channel different from the channel that the account is beingopened (e.g., an account is opened in the Internet channel, and then acheck to fund the account is deposited through the ATM/Kiosk channel)are handled by the business outside the AO system.

This funding description applies to New and Existing customers, and Soleand Joint Accounts. Applicable CMB and PFS products may include Savings,Checking (Current), Term Deposit and Credit Cards (including securecards), as well as foreign currency savings, checking and term deposits.Funding may be through Cash, Check (Cheque), Cards, Internal transfer(including sweeps) and/or External Domestic transfer.

In some embodiments, future dated funding is supported. This refers tothe pending completion funding execution pre-requisites for theinstruction or arrival of the check to the bank. In some embodiments,the system also supports funding involving foreign currency exchange andfunding by automatic transfer and direct deposit.

Features such as Designing a Payment Engine; Funding for other Lendingproducts (excluding Credit card); Anti money laundering check;Merchant/white label accounts; Setting up of the Automatic Transfer andDirect deposit instruction; Switching service; and/or Internationaltransfers may or may not be supported.

In the context of funding, a Kiosk is a station hosting the Internetapplication.

Product, Customer and Channel information may available as inputs toFunding from other milestones. Fees information may be available asinput from the elect product, configure product and decisioningmilestones.

Preferably, each funding instruction consists of one funding purposetied to a number of funding options for user's selection.

Funding options may vary by Customer Type (new or existing), Channel andProduct and funding purposes, but a core set of options are supportedwithin the Account Opening (AO) system (e.g., Internal Transfer,External Transfer, Debit Card, Credit Card, etc.).

An open, active account may not always be required to capture a fundinginstruction. A funding instruction can be captured without the accountnumber being generated and activated. The execution can be completedeither before the account is generated, together with accountgeneration, or after the account is generated, depending on the purposeof the funding instruction and the product being opened.

The User may select a funding option for each product within a bundledapplication. Funding for bundled product or multi product opening ispreferably handled serially. In some embodiments, each product within abundled product or multi-product opening has its own product levelfunding milestone status.

For cross currency transactions, the user may to enter an amount aseither an ‘amount to debit’ or an ‘amount to credit’ (currency of thenew account).

In some embodiments, each product being opened within the applicationmay be required to set up zero, one, or more than one fundinginstructions, as configured by the business. Each funding instructionhas its own funding instruction status.

The product level funding milestone is considered complete when all thefunding instructions for the product has reached the businessconfigurable respective status that contributes to the successfulcompletion of the product level funding milestone. The account openingfunding milestone is considered completed when the account openingapplication has been approved and all product level funding milestoneshave been completed.

In some embodiments, funding instructions can be changed prior to thecompletion of the funding milestone and subject to whether theapplication is open to changes for various account opening scenarios(e.g., joint/sole/new/existing/product/CMB/Channel/joint secondary).

The system provides the business the flexibility to configure whichfields are made available for input or display only, and which may varyamong various account opening scenarios. Account opening scenarios mayvary by channel, product and/or customer information (PFS or CMB, New orExisting, Sole or Joint 1^(st) or Joint 2^(nd) applicant, etc.).

The degree to which the funding process is fully automated may begoverned by local regulatory requirements and system capabilities. Thetime taken to process a funding request may be dependent on the externalInterfaces.

In general, Funding refers to a process of adding funds to an account.Herein, the term funding means to add funds to a deposit account,collect fees and Transfer balance. The objective is to bring funds in asquickly as possible (minimally to provide the perception the funds areon their way, if not really here) to meet the customer's goal to accessmoney as early as possible and the bank's aim to begin generatinginterest income.

In some embodiments, Funding is a distinct functionality within the Endto End account opening process. It relates to the collection of datarequired to fund the account. The Funding milestone works in conjunctionwith other milestones to complete the account opening process. Fundingfunctionality is flexible enough to move around within the accountopening flow depending on local business practice/knowledge, to theextent that capture of the funding instruction and execution of thefunding instruction can be carried out separately.

Funding is also reusable as an independent service for other workstreams, meaning that all components of the funding process, from thepresentation of options to the execution of the funding instruction, arereusable. For example, the payment work stream could use the InternalTransfer component to carry out day to day transfers. Credit Cardcomponents could be used for bill payment.

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating the Funding process according to someembodiments of the invention. The Funding milestone may be divided into5 steps: Present, Select, Capture, Confirm and Execute. These steps aredetailed further below.

-   -   Present options. This is the process whereby funding options are        presented to the customer for selection. In some embodiments,        the system provides the business with the ability to configure        the funding options for various funding purposes within an        account opening scenarios.

Whether funding is offered is configurable by the business by fundingpurpose per product per customer journey. For example, when building thecustomer journey for a ‘current account’ checking product, an entity maydecide to offer deposit by check and internal transfer as the onlyfunding options. However, for a savings account customer journey, anentity may decide to offer deposit by cash, deposit by check, andinternal transfer as the funding options. The business decides whetherto present previously used funding sources that match with the availablefunding options available for selection. In addition, the business alsodecides at product level whether or not the second party to a jointapplication can add funds. Funding instructions for multiple productsare preferably available for re-use once the funding is set up for thefirst time.

The system can present zero, or one or more funding instructions forcapture per product, as configured by the business. Each fundinginstruction corresponds to a funding purpose.

In some embodiments, each funding instruction is associated with aproduct that is being opened. For the case of opening a bundled product,the funding instruction for the fees may be associated to the bundledproduct level.

If there are multiple kinds of fees that need to be collected for theproduct being opened, they may be treated as separate fundinginstructions.

The system preferably presents one or more funding options for selectionper funding instruction.

The system also preferably presents previously used funding sourceshaving funding options applicable to the funding instruction forselection. Applicable funding sources captured through account servicingmay also be made available for selection.

In some embodiments, for joint customer scenarios, the system maypresent funding options to the primary applicant, but may or may notpresent funding options to subsequent applicants. For example, A and Bcould fund from their individual accounts with another institution forthe newly opened joint account with the bank.

For multi-product scenarios, the system supports the presentment offunding options for each of the products selected, each of which mayrequire the capture of more than one funding instruction for a differentpurpose. For example, if the user has chosen a Savings and Checkingproduct, system may present the funding options separately for each ofthe products.

Funding options may be presented at more than one point within theFunding process. Funding instruction capturing may be presented anypoint through the AO journey. Preferably, customers are allowed tochange the funding option at any point during the AO process.

For each funding instruction configured for each product, the businesscan configure whether funding is mandatory and whether it can beskipped. For example, the business may specify that for credit cardsfunding the annual fees and processing fees cannot be skipped, butbalance transfer can be skipped. The system is able to respond to whatbusiness has configured, and decide whether or not to give an option tothe user to fund offline (e.g., skip funding).

The presentment of funding options for selection only applies if thereare two or more funding options being offered, or if there are two ormore applicable previously used funding sources offered for selection.If there are no previously used funding sources and only one fundingoption is applicable, the funding instruction captured for the onlyoption may be presented directly.

If funding is not offered for a product, the funding milestone for theproduct is may be considered complete once the account openingapplication has been approved.

By “Funding options can be presented at more than one point within thefunding process”, it is meant that, in some embodiments, setting up offunding instructions is only presented at one point within an accountopening scenario per product, and users will be allowed to change thefunding option selection during the capture of the funding instruction.It does not mean that funding options can be presented at one point fora certain purpose (e.g., collect annual fees) within an account openingscenario, and then funding options are presented again at a second pointfor the same purpose and for the same product within the same accountopening scenario.

For certain products (e.g., credit cards), the business can definemultiple presentment of funding options, where each presentmentcorresponds to funding for one purpose. For example: one set of fundingoptions for paying annual fees; a second set of funding options forpaying processing fees; option to capture details for a balancetransfer; a fourth set of funding options for funding a secure card.

-   -   Select an option. This is the process whereby the system allows        user the ability to make selection. The User selects the funding        option most suitable to them. The User has multiple funding        options to select from. User may also select from a previously        used funding source for the instruction.

Whether the user can fund offline is configurable by the business byfunding purpose per product per customer journey.

The system provides the user with the ability to select the desiredfunding option from one or multiple options and from previously usedapplicable funding sources.

In some embodiments, the User can only select one option or onepreviously used funding source per funding instruction. In someembodiments, multiple funding options or funding source selection arenot supported. For example, the User cannot choose Cash and Check asfunding options for same product.

Preferably, the system provides users with the ability to modify theirselection any time before confirmation.

In some embodiments, if funding is not mandatory for the fundinginstruction and the user decides to fund offline, then the fundinginstruction status is considered processed once the account openingapplication has been approved.

If no funding instruction is set up for the product (either funding notrequired, all user selected fund offline for all funding instructionsfor the product), then the funding milestone for the product may beconsidered complete once the account opening application has beenapproved.

The system is able to respond to what the business has configured, anddecide whether to give an option to user to fund offline for eachfunding instruction within the various account opening scenarios.

-   -   Capture information. Once the user has selected a funding option        or a previously used funding source, the system captures the        information required to complete the transaction. The system may        display the values previously captured if the user selected a        previously used funding source.

Where the new account is for an existing customer that is debiting aninternal account and the transfer can be immediate (e.g., within foreigncurrency cut-off times), a foreign exchange rate may be displayed (alongwith the amount to debit and the amount to credit as mentioned above) tothe user for review, where the debit and credit currency are different.The business can configure whether the exchange rate should be quoteddirectly or indirectly. The user may be given the option of accepting ordeclining this exchange rate before completing the process.

Where a transfer with a foreign exchange (FEX) cannot be completed as itis after FEX cut off times, an appropriate business configurable messagemay be displayed to the customer and the transaction can be stored inthe local entity back office system, and generated on the next workingday (during FEX open times) at the prevailing rate.

Where a transfer with a foreign exchange cannot be completed as it isfrom a third party, an appropriate message may be displayed to thecustomer advising the same. This message and the previous (and any such)message can be different and are preferably entity business definable.

Although the above refers to foreign exchange, it should be noted thattransfers can also take place between the same currency.

For opening new term deposit accounts, the term duration, indicativeterm interest rate and indicative term maturity date together with itsterm currency and amount are preferably displayed to the customer. Thecustomer may then be given the option of accepting or declining thisexchange rate before completing the process.

In some embodiments, the system obtains the customer, channel, andproduct information from previous milestones. For example, Customer nameand Product name may be pre filled and the system must capture only therest of the information. The system may obtain the fees that need to becollected from the select product, configure product and the decisionmilestones. Preferably, there is minimum additional data capture.

Funding limits (min, max) and data fields are business maintainable.There may be separate limit entitlements for funding and moving monies.Funding limits can vary and may be configurable by business by fundingpurpose, funding option, product, and/or customer journey. Where hostsystems already store minimum balances (e.g., Term Deposits), entitiesdo not need to re-define such limits; validation exists once thecustomer enters the funding amount. Funding limits is a separateconfiguration to payment limits.

The business is also able to configure the number of balance transfersfrom competitors that are allowed for various account opening scenarios,and also the maximum total amount of credit card balance transfersallowed within various account opening scenarios. For example, in theUK, the customer may be given the option to switch up to three of theirexisting competitor balances to the bank. Amount and number ofcompetitors is configurable by product and user journey. The balancetransfer details may be captured per competitor's card within an accountopening scenario. The allowed balance transfer amount may vary byproduct.

In some embodiments, the system may enable future dated funding, meaningthat the funding execution may be held due to pending completion offunding or application execution pre-requisites. The instruction iscaptured now, but execution can take place on a future date. However, insome cases, users are not allowed to specify a future date for when thefunding execution is to take place.

Where an account type has a minimum balance requirement and the customeris carrying out a foreign exchange (that is not immediate), if theyselected an ‘amount to debit’, the system may look to the hosts'‘indicative’ exchange rates to ensure that the amount will meet theminimum balance requirements. If not, an appropriate businessconfigurable error message may be displayed to the customer. If theactual amount to credit does not reach the minimum balance, such a casemay be handled outside of AO.

The business has the option of displaying a recurring step that allowsthe funding account to establish recurring transfers (at the time offunding, not subsequent to funding). This is also a servicing componentthat may be available for re-use.

For funding for multi-currency accounts, the user is preferably allowedto select the currency (crediting currency) where the funds are to gowithin the list of currencies the user selected in the productconfiguration milestone. The funding (debiting) currencies arepreferably in line with the funding option the user selected.

In some embodiments, the system may display currency exchangeinformation (rate, debit/credit amount) for indication beforeconfirmation whenever the funding instruction capture involves currencyexchange. Funding limits for checking may be enforced whenever currencyexchange is involved. The exchange rate is preferably sourced from hostor external interfaces (and can be shared and incorporated into theaccount servicing work stream).

The business can configure whether customer re-authentication isrequired by funding option per funding instruction for various accountopening journey scenarios. The business can also configure the amountthreshold that re-authentication is required. In some embodiments,re-authentication is required once only for the whole Account Openingapplication submission. Re-authentication can be by-passed, for example,if the user did not select any funding option that requiresre-authentication.

The details captured within the funding instructions may be saved if theapplication has not been submitted.

-   -   Confirm instruction. Once a user has captured the data, they        must confirm the instruction to complete the transaction. In        some embodiments, once the user the confirms the instruction,        the system provides the user an acknowledgement. The funding        instruction is executed upon completion of funding execution        pre-requisites. Confirming the instruction will trigger the        execution of the instruction if all funding execution        pre-requisites are completed, or the system will wait for the        completion of funding execution pre-requisites.

Once data is captured the system preferably provides the user the optionto Confirm or Modify. The User may either confirm the instructions ormodify the instruction where possible. On confirmation the instructionis submitted and pended for execution.

The submitted instructions may then be executed to complete the funding.If processed in real time, the system may give acknowledgement to thecustomer that the transaction is complete. If an instruction is awaitingexecution, the system may send acknowledgement that funding instructionshave been captured and confirmed by the customer. In some embodiments,this stage is fully automated.

In some embodiments, Account Number and account balance may be validatedprior to confirmation of the instruction (e.g., for Internal Transfer,Credit Card, and Debit Card).

The business can configure whether obtaining the debit authorizationmandate (for external transfers) or pre-approval (for credit card ordebit card) needs to be performed as part of the validation prior toconfirmation, or whether it can be carried out as part of fundingexecution.

Once a funding instruction is confirmed and validated successfully, thefund source details captured may be made available for selection forsetting up subsequent funding instructions within Account Opening, andalso made available for selection for subsequent movement of moneywithin Account Servicing.

An entity can configure, depending on the product and channel, whetheror not a user has to ‘review’ and confirm the details of an account(e.g., in the case of Term Deposit accounts).

-   -   Execute instruction. Executing instruction is the process of        providing the output to the external interface to carry out the        transfer of funds and collect the acknowledgement to be        communicated to the user. This component keeps track as to        whether the funding execution pre-requisites are completed and        whether the account is generated and activated. For executing        the instruction, the capture of instruction must be completed.

The business can configure when the instruction is to be executed byfunding option for each instruction for each product within an AOjourney. The execute funding instruction component decides whetherfunding execution can start based on business configuration and othermilestone statuses and AO status.

A funding instruction for a product can be executed, for example, at oneof the following business configurable stages within the account openingprocess. This configuration constitutes the funding executionpre-requisite for the funding instruction.

-   -   Right after the funding instruction is captured    -   Account Opening application submitted and approved, but no        accounts have been opened yet    -   Account Opening application submitted and approved, and before        the account for the funding instruction is opened    -   Account opened but not active    -   Account opened and active    -   Together with actual opening of the account

For funding a secure card, a savings account (either existing or newlyopened) may be linked to the card when the funding execution takesplace.

The instruction to collect fee may be executed without the new accountbeing opened.

In some embodiments, an account within an application may be opened onthe completion of the following:

-   -   All mandatory milestones like Gather application data, Validate        Identify, Decision, Terms and Conditions are completed    -   All funding instructions that have to be executed either 1)        Right after the funding instruction is captured; 2) Account        Opening application submitted and approved; or 3) Before the        account is opened are completed successfully

If the debit authorization mandate (for external transfers) orpre-approval (for credit card or debit card) has not been obtained aspart of the funding instruction validation process, they are preferablyobtained as part of the funding instruction execution.

For opening new Term Deposit accounts, the actual term interest rate andterm start and maturity date may be booked at the time when the accountis actually opened.

The business entity can configure (business without IT intervention) atwhat point a zero-balance account application is considered “active”(e.g., after KYC/validate ID has been passed, but before fundingexecution).

The business entity can also configure (business without ITintervention) at what point a balance-required account application isconsidered “active” (e.g., after funds have been applied to theaccount).

Whenever the funding execution involves currency exchange, the businessconfigured funding limit (min, max) for the funding option used for thefunding purpose in the instruction is preferably checked against usingthe actual exchange rate for the execution of the funding instruction.

For funding execution that takes place right away, if the fundinginstruction fails, the user is preferably provided with a businessdefinable failure message and also the ability to fund using some otherfunding option right away. In some embodiments, for execution of otherfunding instructions, once the funding execution request is fired-off,no more changing of funding instruction/option is allowed. The customeris preferably notified with a business definable failure message andalso the ability to fund using some other funding option through accountservicing.

In case of future date funding the execution will take effect oncompletion of the funding execution pre-requisites or the arrival ofcheck.

In case the customer sends a check for funding for multi-product,bundled product, or for multiple purposes, the splitting of the amounttowards funding for different products and fees may be handled manually.

In case a successfully executed funding instruction has to be reversed(e.g., customer cancels application, etc.), the system provides thecapability for carrying out the reversal (if, e.g., such capability isnot available through account servicing). The funds are returned to thefunding source they originated from.

This component preferably obtains other milestone statuses as input, andmay determine, for example, the account opening application status, andwhether each of the new accounts have been generated and whether theyare active. This component may use these statuses obtained to determinewhen the funding instruction execution is to take place.

For future dated funding execution, execution should take effect on thecompletion of funding execution pre-requisites or arrival of the checkto the bank.

For Card products, account being active refers to the case where acredit card account has been generated and activated (activated hererefers to the credit card account, not the credit card itself).

Preferably, the funding option or funding instruction can be changed aslong as the respective funding execution has not started. A submittedapplication can be retrieved and changes are preferably allowed to bemade to the application.

-   -   Funding Options. This section describes the details and data        needed for the available funding options. The funding options        are options available for funding the deposit account, funding        the savings account linked to secure card, and collection of        initial fees.    -   1. Cash as funding option: Cash may be either paid to the teller        or deposited using a self service machine (Kiosk or ATM). Cross        channel cash funding execution is not required; cash may be        taken at the point where the AO application is made (One-stop        fulfilment).

The system gathers necessary data for the Cash funding instruction. Forexample, the customer may be sitting with a CSR and would like to make acash deposit. The customer provides the cash to the CSR, and the CSRcaptures details of the instruction and takes the cash to the teller fordeposit.

In some embodiments, funding through Cash is only allowed upon Accountactivation.

In some embodiments, the account opening system may be integrated withthe teller system. Instructions captured via Branch/Call Center may besent for execution without re-entry of the funding instruction intolegacy systems.

In some embodiments, the system displays the cash balance with statuspending, and the status changes to “available” upon actual cash entryprocessed by the teller. The business may define what fields aredisplayed/captured/editable and which ones are mandatory.

In some embodiments, the following information is captured for the Cashoption: Customer Name (Name of the customer whose account is beingopened); Fund Account number—(Account number to be funded); and Amount(Funding Amount).

System support of funding of cash through Teller, Self Service Machines(Kiosk and ATM) means that the Account Opening application is madeavailable through these channels, and customers may deposit the cashthrough these channels right away. In some cases, funds arriving from achannel different from the channel that the account is being opened(e.g., account opened in the Internet channel, and then the checkdeposited through the ATM/Kiosk channel, or account opened in theInternet channel, and then the cash deposited through the ATM/Kioskchannel) may be handled by the business outside the AO system (e.g., bysome existing process).

If a customer is not funding according to what they have specified(e.g., specified through the online channel to fund $100.00 by check,but end up funding $50.00 cash through branch), the funding may behandled by the business outside the AO system (e.g., by some existingprocess). It is business maintainable as to whether staff should markthe product level funding milestone status completed in this case(subject to completion of other funding instructions for the product).This maintenance is only required if the business configured fundingmilestone is not marked completed upon successful capture of the fundinginstruction using cash.

The cash balance (with pending status) can be passed along to otherexisting legacy systems and reflected upon inquiry, until the pointwhere the funds are realized and the balance becomes available.

In some embodiments, when staff indicate a product level fundingmilestone status as completed, all balances pending for funding (e.g.,cash balance, check balance) cease. Only the true account balance isreflected subsequently.

-   -   2. Check as funding option: A physical Check may be deposited        with a branch, sent through the mail or deposited using a self        service machine (Kiosk or ATM). The Check details (e.g., Initial        Deposit amount) may be collected by a back-office when the        physical check arrives. In some embodiments, if “check” is        selected as funding option through the branch channel, then it        is integrated so that staff do not need to re-capture the check        details through legacy systems. Preferably, appropriate fields        for capturing check details are provided, which may vary among        the channels. The business is able to configurable the check        details to be collected across different channels. If the check        arrives through other means, then the check details may be        captured through existing processes.

In some embodiments, the system may display the check balance withstatus pending, and the status will change to “available” upon actualrealization of check through clearing process. Until then a zero balancewill be maintained in the account.

Funding of check through Teller, Self Service Machines (Kiosk and ATM)means that the Account Opening application is made available throughthese channels, and the customer may deposit the check through thesechannels right away. Funds arriving from a channel different from thechannel that the account is being opened (e.g., account opened in theInternet channel, and then the check deposited through the ATM/Kioskchannel) may be handled by the business using existing functionality.

If a customer is not funding according to what they have specified(e.g., specified through the online channel to fund $100.00 by check,but end up funding $50.00 cash through branch), the funding may behandled by the business using existing functionality. It is businessmaintainable as to whether staff should mark the product level fundingmilestone status completed in this case (subject to completion of otherfunding instructions for the product). This maintenance is only requiredif the business configured funding milestone is not marked completedupon successful capture of the funding instruction using check.

If an account is opened with check as funding option selected, and thecheck subsequently arrives at the bank (e.g., via ATM, mail, branch,etc.), the check details may be captured through processes withinaccount servicing or existing processes.

To make the check as funding option consistent with the cash as fundingoption, the account opening system may be integrated with the tellersystem, meaning that there is no need for the staff to re-capture theCheck Deposit transaction through other existing legacy systems. Fieldsrelevant to the details of the check are preferably made available forcapturing, and such fields may vary among various account openingscenarios.

The check balance (with pending status) may be passed along to otherexisting legacy systems and reflected upon inquiry, until a point wherethe funds are cleared and realized and the balance becomes available.

When staff indicates a product level funding milestone status ascompleted, all balances pending for funding (e.g., cash balance, checkbalance) should cease. Only the true account balance is reflectedsubsequently.

-   -   3. Credit Card as funding option: The system collects the        necessary card details and executes the instruction on        completion of the pre-requisites for funding execution. The        Credit Card details may be collected if they are readily        available with the user. Credit Card as funding option may be        applicable to depositing funds, or for balance transfers.

The business is able to configure whether obtaining credit cardpre-approval (if applicable) is to be carried out as part of fundinginstruction validation, or whether it is to be carried out as part offunding instruction execution.

Due to sensitive information associated with a credit card andregulations that these information cannot be stored in the systems, thebusiness can configure whether funding by credit card has to be executedright away after the information is captured per AO journey.

If the Credit Card is declined (either obtaining pre-approval or duringthe actual execution), the user may be notified of the failure, and maybe given the ability to amend the card details, choose another fundingoption, or provide another credit card.

In some embodiments, election of Credit Card as funding option may betreated as cash advance (from card limit) or a normal transfer (when thecredit card is in credit).

In some embodiments, one or more pieces of the following information arecaptured for the Card option. Where information is already available itwill preferably not be captured again. This is not an exhaustive listand may vary by entity.

1. Customer Name—Name of the customer whose account is being opened

2. Fund Account number—Account number to be funded

3. Bank Credit Card number (for balance transfer only)—The card numberto which balance is transferred

4. Amount—Funding Amount or balance transfer amount

5. Effective date—Date of executing the instruction

6. Card Number—The card used for funding the account or where thebalance is transferred from

7. Type of Card—Visa, MasterCard, or Others

8. Card Expiry date—The date card expires

9. Institution Name (balance transfer only)—Name of the Institution fromwhich balance is transferred

10. Institution address (balance transfer only)—Address of theInstitution from which balance is transferred

11. CVV code—Card Security code

12. First Name—Customer First name on the Card

13. Last Name—Customer Last Name on the Card

14. Billing Address—Card billing address

15. Card start date—Card valid from this date (captured for local entityonly)

“Card Account Number” refers to the Card Number where the funds comefrom, or where the balance transfer is to be effected from. For the caseof balance transfer, it refers to credit cards issued by other financialinstitutions, or other non Bank-branded credit cards. “Bank Credit Cardnumber” refers to the new card in the account opening process, which maybe defaulted/derived by the system and does not require capture by theuser.

If credit card information is not readily available, the user can savethe application (provided that the application has not yet beensubmitted), and return to it later when information becomes available.

-   -   4. Debit Card as funding option: The system collects the        necessary card details and executes the instruction on        completion of mandatory milestones. The Debit Card details are        collected if they are readily available with the user.

The business is able to configure whether obtaining debit cardpre-approval (if applicable) is to be carried out as part of fundinginstruction validation, or whether it is to be carried out as part offunding instruction execution.

Due to sensitive information associated with a debit card andregulations that these information cannot be stored in the systems, thebusiness can configure whether funding by debit card has to be executedright away after the information is captured per AO journey.

If the Debit Card is declined (either obtaining pre-approval or duringthe actual execution), the user may be notified of the failure, and maybe given the ability to amend the card details or choose another fundingoption.

In some embodiments, one or more pieces of the following information arecaptured for the Debit Card option. Where information is alreadyavailable it will preferably not be captured again. This is not anexhaustive list and may vary by entity.

1. Customer Name—Name of the customer whose account is being opened

2. Fund Account number—Account number to be funded

3. Amount—Funding Amount

4. Effective date—Date of executing the instruction

5. Card Number—The card used for funding the account

6. Type of Card—Visa, MasterCard, etc.

7. Card Expiry date—The date card expires

8. CVV code—Card Security code

9. Card start date—Card valid from this date (captured for local entityonly)

10. Card Issue number—Number of times the card is issued

If debit card information is not readily available, the user can savethe application (provided that the application has not yet beensubmitted), and return to it later when information becomes available.

-   -   5. Internal Transfer as funding option: Transfer of funds within        the Institution is referred to as Internal Transfer. The system        collects the necessary account details and executes the        instruction on completion of funding execution pre-requisites.

In some embodiments, internal transfer may be available only to existingcustomer with any business defined eligible accounts. Eligible accountsrefer to those that are debitable within the user's entitlement limits.The business is able to configure which types of accounts (e.g.,Savings, Checking, etc.) and currencies may be made eligible for variousaccount opening scenarios.

In some embodiments, only debitable accounts are displayed. The list ofaccounts to be displayed may be filtered based on account type (e.g.,savings accounts, current accounts, term deposits, etc.) and accountcurrency. The dropdown may display full account details includingnumber, type (or nickname) and currency. In addition, in someembodiments, there is a ‘check balance’ function. The format of thisfunction is entity definable (e.g., as to whether to display ledger oravailable balance, and any overdraft facility).

The business has the ability to configure the account currency optionsallowed in the debitable account list selection for setting up aninternal transfer, for example:

Local Currency (on shore currency)

New account currency

Local currency and new account currency

Any currency as supported by the local entity (including local currencyand new account currency)

The business is also able to configure the transfer limits (min and max)and funding sources for various account opening scenarios.

The system has the ability to check and validate the customer's accountbalance before executing the instruction. Checks to be included mayinclude available funds, account status, inhibits (specialinstructions), and/or limit utilization. For sites that can definelimits for different transfer types, this may be regarded as an ‘inhouse linked account transfer.’

Customer balance is preferably displayed for each potential funding. Itis up to business flexibility as to which fields to display/capture/editand which ones are mandatory.

In some embodiments, one or more pieces of the following information arecaptured for Internal Transfer option. Where information is alreadyavailable it will preferably not be captured again. This is not anexhaustive list and may vary by entity.

1. Customer Name—Name of the customer whose account is being opened

2. Fund Account number—Account number to be funded

3. Amount—Funding Amount

4. Effective date—Date of executing the instruction

5. Account to be Debited—Customer's existing account with Bank fromwhere funds will be collected

6. Type of Account—(e.g., Savings or Checking) for display only as partof debiting account information

-   -   6. Sweep as funding option: A sweep account is an account set up        at a bank or other financial institution where the funds are        automatically managed between a primary and secondary account.        Customers can choose to have a ‘sweep’ from their current        account to a nominated savings account once a month, on a        specified date. Sweeps can be set up through different channels        and the instruction to set up the sweep captured.

In some embodiments, sweeps are available only to existing customerswith eligible accounts. Eligible accounts refer to those that aredebitable within the users entitlement limits. The business mayconfigure which types of accounts (e.g., Savings, Checking, etc.) andcurrencies may be made eligible for various account opening scenarios.

In some embodiments, only debitable accounts are displayed. The list ofaccounts to be displayed may be filtered based on account type (e.g.,savings accounts, current accounts, term deposits, etc.) and accountcurrency. The dropdown may display full account details includingnumber, type (or nickname) and currency. In addition, there may be a‘check balance’ function. The format of this function is entitydefinable.

The business is able to configure one of the following exemplary accountcurrency options allowed in the debitable account list selection forsetting up a sweep:

Local Currency (on shore currency)

New account currency

Local currency and new account currency

Any currency as supported by the local entity (including local currencyand new account currency)

Sweep limit min/max are preferably business maintainable.

The system has the ability to check and validate customer's accountbalance every time before executing the sweep instruction. Checks to beincluded may include available funds, account status, inhibits (specialinstructions), and/or limit utilization. For sites that can definelimits for different transfer types, this may be regarded as an ‘inhouse linked account transfer.’ This checking and subsequent maintenancemay rely on an account sweeps module when the sweep instruction isexecuted each time (the sweeps module may exist in both AO andservicing).

Customer balance is preferably displayed for each potential fundingaccount. It is y up to business flexibility as to which fields todisplay/capture/edit and which ones are mandatory

The following data are preferably supplied to set up a sweep:

Account number to sweep from

Account number to sweep to

Date of sweep

Minimum balance to maintain in the current account

Minimum amount to transfer

In some embodiments, sweeps can only be setup between two internalaccounts within the Bank entity.

Even though it is mentioned that sweeps can take place once a month on aspecified date, the business may require more flexibility on the sweepfrequency options being offered. It is left up to business to configurewhat sweep frequency options (e.g., daily, fixed day of week, biweekly,fixed day of month, end-of-month, quarterly, etc.) to offer for variousaccount opening scenarios.

In some embodiments, maintenance of sweeps after they are set up throughaccount opening are not handled by the AO system. In some embodiments,for example, sweep maintenances may be handled in the servicingwork-stream.

-   -   7. External Transfer as funding option: Transfer of funds from        another Institution is referred to as External Transfer. In some        embodiments, only local external transfer (e.g., within the        country) is supported. An authorization to debit customer's        account with another institution may be required to be obtained.        The business is able to configure whether obtaining debit        authorization is to be carried out as part of funding        instruction validation, or whether it is to be carried out as        part of funding instruction execution. In some embodiments, CDM        will store internal bank and card accounts, and PPE will host        third-party bank and card accounts.

The currencies in which the funding has to be effected are alsopreferably business maintainable. The currencies allowed for selectionmay be different from the currency that the new product is being opened.

The account with the other institution may be verified prior toexecution (business configurable as to whether verification takesplace). This verification can be performed, for example, with the aid ofonline verification or trial deposit. In some embodiments, the systemmay be integrated with an external system to carry out the accountverification.

In some embodiments, verification is performed as part of obtaining thedebit authorization mandate. If the user selected an existing externalaccount as funding source, and a valid debit authorization mandate isalready in place, by default the debit authorization mandate can bereused for effecting the funding execution. There is no need to obtain anew mandate for such cases. However, the business has the option toconfigure that a new debit authorization mandate is required.

The system communicates to the user whether the Account verification wasSuccessful or Unsuccessful. Alternatively, a user may fund from anexternal source by use of the funding by debit card funding option.

In some embodiments, one or more pieces of the following information arecaptured for External Transfer option. Where information is alreadyavailable will not be captured again.

Customer Name—Name of the customer for whom the account is being opened

Fund Account number—Account number which requires to be funded

Amount—Funding Amount

Effective date—Date of executing the instruction

Account Number—Account with other institution

Account type—Savings or Checking account

Name of the Institution—Name of the Institution from which funds have tobe collected

Address of the Institution—Address of the Institution from which fundshave to be collected

ABA Routing Number—Routing number of the Institution from which fundshave to be collected

-   -   8. Apply to New Account as funding option: Debiting from the new        account being opened is referred to as “Apply to New Account.”        For credit cards, the account in this case refers to the credit        card account. In some embodiments, this funding option is only        applicable for the collection of fees. The business is able to        configure whether to allow this funding option per kind of fees        to be collected per product within various AO journey scenarios.    -   9. Skip Funding as funding option: Skip funding (e.g., open with        a zero balance) allows the user to fund the account at a later        stage after the new account is being opened. Where skip funding        is selected, users should be able to fund the account through        processes available from account servicing or through existing        business processes. The business is able to configure whether to        allow this funding option per funding instruction per product        within various AO journey scenarios. In certain regards, this        may be viewed as a business capability rather than a customer        option.    -   Funding purpose. Funding purpose refers to where the funds        collected will go. Each funding instruction has a business        configurable funding purpose tied to it. In some embodiments,        the available funding purposes include: Balance Transfer;        Collect Fees; Deposit Funds.    -   1. Balance Transfer: Balance transfer is the act of transferring        debt from one account to another. The account can be a banking        (e.g. loan, mortgage) or a credit card account.

Balance transfer for banking accounts may only allow External Transferas funding option. Balance transfer for credit cards may only allowCredit Card as funding option. The business can configure whetherbalance transfer is allowed from Bank branded and non-Bank brandedcredit cards.

The business can configure the maximum number of accounts orinstitutions in which balance transfer can be setup for a new account.Balance transfer from each account or institution may be treated as aseparate funding instruction when it comes to funding execution andfunding status update.

The business also configures the limit (min, max) in which the balancetransfer has to be effected per product for various account openingscenarios.

Initially the system may capture the balance transfer instruction, butthe execution may happen before or after the account activation, asconfigured by the business.

The balance transferred may be applied to the new account or credit cardthat is opened.

Any constraints in using balance transfers (e.g., three times maximumwithin a six-month period) for a new account may, in some embodiments,be handled as part of account servicing.

-   -   2. Collect Initial Fees: A customer opening an account may be        required to pay up-front fees such as an Annual fee, Processing        fee, and/or Application processing fee. Fees may be applicable        to any banking products or credit cards.

The system preferably initiates the collection of a fee only if the feewas not collected earlier or the customer is not eligible for feewaiver.

Annual Fee—This is a fee charged on an annual basis by the credit cardissuer to the cardholder to help cover the cost of maintaining thecardholder's account. The system provides the ability to bill thecustomer's new credit card account directly or collect from an existingBank account, debit card, or credit card.

Processing Fee—All fees surrounding credit cards can be termed asprocessing fees. For example, application fees, set-up fees, gatewayaccess fees, statement fees, fixed transaction fees, etc. The systemprovides the ability to bill the customer's new credit card accountdirectly or collect using one of the funding options.

The business can configure multiple funding instructions for collectingdifferent kinds of fees, and specify which funding options are to beoffered for each kind of fee per product for various account openingscenarios.

The business is also able to configure the kind of fees together with anIncome/Expenditure (I/E) account entry or an I/E account number whichthe fees collected will be credited to. The business can configure adifferent I/E account entry or account number for different kinds offees collected per product for various account opening scenarios.

The business can further configure whether different kinds of fees andtheir details are overridable per product for various account openingscenarios (and channels).

The following exemplary information may be configured by the businessfor each kind of fee that can be collected:

Kind of fees—The kind of fees to be collected (e.g. annual fees,processing fees, subscription fees, etc.)

I/E entry or account—The Income/Expenditure account that the fees willbe credited to

Periodicity—The frequency that the fee has to be collected (e.g., onetime, monthly, yearly, etc.)

The business can configure whether to collect the different kinds offees together or separately for various account opening scenarios. Ifthe fees are to be collected together, the business is also allowed toconfigure an Income/Expenditure (I/E) account entry or account numberfor the fees to be credited to.

Regarding what fees are applicable, and the amount for each kind of fee,and whether fees have been collected and if the customer is eligible forfee waiver, these preferably come from a combination of productinformation and the local entity's back-end system (decisioning) on thefees for the product that the applicant has applied for. In someembodiments, these details are fed into the funding milestone tofacilitate the capture of the funding instructions for the collection offees.

-   -   3. Deposit Funds: Funds can be deposited to savings, checking,        term deposit, and credit card accounts while the new account is        being opened.

The business can configure which funding options are to be offered fordepositing funds per product for various account opening scenarios. Thebusiness can also define the deposit funds limit per funding option perproduct for various account opening scenarios.

The funds collected may be deposited to the new account being opened. Inthe case of secure credit card, the funds may effectively be depositedinto the savings account that backs the credit card. The savings accountis preferably already linked or newly created at the time that thedeposit funds funding instruction is executed.

-   -   Funding Status and Notification. This section describes the        process of notifying the funding status to the User. In some        embodiments, the account opening system monitors the status of        the funding activities and send notices via the communication        module to the customer. This status notifies the user, for        example when account opening is pending on account of capture of        funding instruction. The business can configure multiple funding        pages for different purposes.

For funding instructions that involve currency exchange and are notexecuted and completed immediately (e.g., instruction submitted aftercurrency cutoff, pending funds arriving from third party sources),entities are able to auto-generate an advice to the customer advising ofthe FEX rate. An entity has the flexibility as part of thecommunications module to be able to generate an advice to the customerby their preferred (or any) contact method.

For each funding instruction, the system maintains a status at everystage of the funding process and can notify the customer of the currentstatus. The system may, in some embodiments, notify via thecommunication module using the customer preference for communication.The system may display the funding amount and current status of theinstruction until the funding process is completed. The business has theability to configure which funding instruction status requiresnotification to customer for each of the funding options within afunding instruction for various AO journeys.

The following are examples of possible funding instruction statuses:

-   -   Funding Pending—Waiting for some other aspect of account opening        (like T&C receipt) to be completed, but instructions were        captured and pending for execution    -   Funding In progress—When capture of funding instruction is        completed successfully and execution of funding instruction is        initiated but not completed    -   Funding Processed—When funding is processed successfully and        balance is reflected    -   Funding unsuccessful—When execution of funding instruction fails

In some embodiments, each product within the account opening applicationhas its own product level funding milestone status. The product levelfunding milestone status is marked complete if the funding instructionsassociated with the product have attained the business configuredfunding instruction status, which may vary by the funding option theuser selected.

The following are exemplary valid funding instruction statuses that afunding instruction can attain in order to contribute to the completionof the product level funding milestone: Funding Pending (instructioncaptured and validated, but pending for execution); Funding in progress(instruction sent for execution and is in progress); or Fundingprocessed (instruction successfully processed and balance reflected).

In some embodiments, overall funding status for an application isconsidered complete only if all the product level funding milestonestatuses within the application are considered complete.

When funding is required for a product, the product level fundingmilestone may appear on a “step tracker” for applications of thatproduct. The milestone will be available to users to complete. Whenfunding is disabled, completion of the capturing of the fundingmilestone is not required and will not be displayed to users or on thestep tracker when users apply for that product.

In some embodiments, the status will be used to notify the user whenaccount opening is pending on capture of funding instruction, but notpending on execution of funding instruction.

The business is able to configure the number of days after which tonotify the customer that the account has remained at a zero balanceafter it has been opened. The business can also configure after how manymore days the account will be automatically closed if it is still notfunded. The customer is preferably notified of the funding purpose,funding option selected, amount, and funding due date in such cases.

When the customer is notified of the successful completion of a fundinginstruction execution, the actual exchange rate used (if any) may becommunicated as part of the notification.

Funding status may be updated to completed if the user chooses to fundoffline for the funding instruction. The customer may or may not benotified in such cases.

When staff maintains a product level funding milestone status tocompleted, all balances pending for funding (e.g. cash balance, checkbalance) will cease. Only the true account balance will be reflectedsubsequently.

Automatic transfer is a process of setting up regular, recurringtransfers, of fixed amounts that happen at specified intervals fromanother institution. An account with another institution must beverified prior to execution. Automatic transfers may or not be supportedby the system during funding of the account.

Direct Deposit may or may not be supported by the system for funding anaccount. Direct Deposit is a process of having regular payments, such assalary and government benefits checks credited directly to anindividual's bank account. The system captures the request for directdeposit, which may satisfy the funding milestone, even though monies maynot be immediately deposited. The account has a zero balance until thefirst direct deposit is credited to the account.

Switching service is the process of switching banking relationships fromone institution to another. The system may or may not support switchingservice of Automatic transfer and direct deposit from the previous bank.In some embodiments, the switching option may be available to customeronly if a Savings or Checking (Current) account is being opened. Sinceswitching service only applies to customers with existing Checking(Current) accounts with another bank, certain information may be alreadycollected from the customer (see Gather Application Data). In someembodiments, the system may capture instructions to transfer directdeposit and automatic transfer from the former bank and automaticallytransfer on to the new account, without the customer having to sign andreturn a paper Transfer Authority Form.

Fulfilment

Fulfilment is the process whereby the system triggers the generation anddelivery of fulfilment materials. Depending of the type of accountopened and how it was configured (by selecting/accepting additionalproducts and services), the system may send requests to other entities,systems, and/or applications to start the process for assembling anddelivering account associated materials (e.g., by Email, Mail, SMS,Printing, etc.).

Providing information and documentation other than in paper (paperless)is preferred. However, the default delivery channel for the fulfilmentitems depends on the entity, channel, and product configuration. Theserules are preferably defined within the customer journey configuration.

For a new customer, as the account holding branch would have beenselected prior to this milestone, where a customer is choosing thebranch options as a delivery channel for certain items, the previouslyselected branch should be pre-selected, but can be changed. If it ischanged it should not affect their original branch selection. Where itis changed, a warning message can be displayed to the customer advisingthem they have selected to collect X at a branch different from the onethey specified their account to be held at. For existing customers,branch details may be defaulted, but can be changed if required(configurable by entity). For certain sites, branch details may beconfigured in different countries. For the branch channel, informationis preferably defaulted.

The degree to which the fulfilment process is fully automated may beconstrained by local regulatory requirements. Some customization may berequired by region, as this milestone interacts with third partyapplications and systems. The system provides the local entity theflexibility to set up the pre-conditions for initiation of fulfilment,based on the local customer journey.

In some embodiments, the following milestones are recommended to becompleted prior to fulfilment: Validate Identity, Configure Product, andTerms and Conditions.

In some embodiments, the account must be activated before fulfilment canbe initiated.

In some embodiments, the system provides instant and fast fulfilment.Preferably, the customer receives immediate confirmation thatarrangements regarding his/her account have been set (for example,e-statements, T&C distributed) and/or that other entities have startedprocessing his/her account request and material will be mailed shortly(e.g., plastic cards for debit/credit cards). The sooner the arrangementis fulfilled, the sooner the customer will be able to use any of theaccess instruments associated with his/her account (PIB, Cards, TAC).

Two activity steps are described within the Fulfilment milestone: (1)Initiate Request: The process whereby a fulfilment request isgenerated/initiated. Requests may be sent to various systems (e.g.,host, third party vendors) for processing of materials; and (2) DeliverFulfilment Materials: The process whereby fulfilment materials (e.g.,credit card (plastic), secured PIN (mail), etc.). are delivered to thecustomer (e.g., online, SMS, email, in branch, etc.). Other/additionalactivity steps are possible.

-   -   Initiate Fulfilment. Once the details of the request have been        captured from the appropriate milestones in the account opening        process a fulfilment request can be initiated. Fulfilment can be        achieved, for example, by sending a request to a third party        facility, internal facility, or the Communications Module to        complete the process.

As used herein, fulfilment means instantly fulfilled upon request,unless specifically stated otherwise. In some cases there may be pendingprocesses to be completed while the fulfilment item is initiated (e.g.,T&C could be sent to the customer while the bank is waiting for a wetsignature).

Fulfilment may be required in one or more of the following instances:Personal or Business Internet Banking (PIB, BIB); Phone Banking (PB);Debit Card/ATM card (mailed and instant); Credit Card (mailed andinstant); Check Book; Terms and Conditions; Welcome Package; DecisionNotification; Dispensing notice. A summary of exemplary fulfilment itemsand available delivery channels is given in Table 4.

TABLE 4 Delivery method Fulfilment Fulfilment IVR/ Area items InstantMail Courier Fax Branch VRU Email SMS Internet Generate X X X X X X XBanking PIB/BIB (PIB, BIB) Credential OTP Token X X X X Phone GeneratePB X X X X X X X Banking Credential (PB) Debit/ATM Generate X (pre- X XX Card Debit/ATM embossed Card Plastic debit card) Generate X (on screenX X X X X Debit/ATM and keypad) Card PIN Credit Card Generate X (From XX X Credit Card Mexico: pre- Plastic embossed credit card) Generate X(on screen X X X X X X Credit Card and keypad) PIN Balance X (on screen)X X X X X X transfer: Generate confirmation letter Check Book Generate XX X Check Book Terms and Generate X (online) X X X X X X Conditions T&CWelcome Generate X (online) X X X X X X Package welcome Letter DecisionNotify X (online) X X X X X X customer of the approval status DispensingGenerate X X X X X X X notice Dispensing notice

-   -   Deliver Fulfilment Materials. This is the process whereby        fulfilment materials listed above such as check books, credit        cards, and debit cards are delivered to the customer via a        specific delivery channel.

The following is a list of exemplary delivery channels that may beapplicable for each fulfilment material: Instant—Online in real time(e.g., on screen, downloadable file, applicant can select theircredentials); Mail; Courier; Fax; Branch; IVR Interactive Voice Responseor VRU Voice Response Unit; Email; or SMS Short Message Service.

The delivery channel is preferably configured by sites based on thesuggested customer journey for that site. The business can configure thedelivery channels for a specific fulfilment material. For example, T&Ccould be displayed instantly on the screen and mailed to the customer.

Although the system offers all delivery channels to be configured bysite, the system is preferably paperless, so in some embodiments willalways try to offer a different alternative to provide information anddocumentation other than in paper.

In addition to the entities having the flexibility of deciding whichchannel is offered to the customer, at the product level, for both theinitiate and deliver stages, the entity is also able to dynamicallydisplay a warning message and/or an additional field for that selection.For example, if a customer selects the ‘delivery by courier’ option, anentity may want to warn the customer that there is a charge for thisdelivery method and it will be debited to their account later. Thisfeature is preferably configurable by particular item (e.g., an entitycan charge for the delivery of a welcome pack by a particular channel,but not for a secure token). It may be that an entity requires proofthat the customer accepted these conditions, so the solutions foraccepting the terms and conditions are preferably usable here as well,to ensure that the customer accepts before processing with that deliveryoption.

-   -   Internet Banking (IB). Initiate Fulfilment—Generate Internet        Banking Credential. In some embodiments, Internet Banking        credential generation is fulfilled within Product Configuration.        Users have already captured the need to generate a new IB        credential. The system supports credential generation for both        personal and commercial customers for PIB and BIB.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Internet Banking Credentials. The        system provides the user with the ability to select from the        following delivery channels:    -   Instant: Users will generate the credentials instantly on the        screen. This should apply in instances where the applicant is        able to create his own credential real time.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the        temporary credentials delivered to the mailing address. The        mailing address should follow the one that is captured from        Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the        temporary credentials delivered to the mailing address. The        mailing address should follow the one that is captured from        Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Branch: The system will generate a request to other systems for        the temporary credentials generation (i.e. integration point) at        or delivered to a branch. The branch location may be captured        from Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Email: Users will receive an email that indicates the temporary        credentials.    -   SMS: Users will receive an SMS that indicates the temporary        credentials.    -   IVR: Users would be confirmed by the IVR system to after        generating an Internet banking PIN. This is only applicable at a        call center environment. Local entity IVR systems support the        functionality of a customer being able to listen to their        internet banking PIN for a first time (and subsequently).    -   Initiate Fulfilment—OTP Token. OTP token is a security        fulfilment item for personal/business customers for internet        banking product. In some embodiments, users have already        captured the need to generate an OTP token within Product        Configuration.

Preferably, the system supports both manual and straight-throughprocesses to generate an OTP token. For manual generation, the systemshould indicate on the system that an OTP token is required for thecustomer. Staff will then fulfill this item manually. Forstraight-through generation, where possible, the system should providean integration point to the entity's token generation system.

Where an entity has defined the credentials/items that can be collectedat a branch, selecting this option may, for example, display a list ofbranches in that entity. The display is preferably definable by thebusiness, with the flexibility to allow the customer to select a cityfirst and then a branch (e.g., selection of X city displays only thebranches in that city). For new customers, their pre-selected branch maybe defaulted (but can be changed). For existing customers, theirexisting branch may be defaulted but can be changed (the option tochange branch and/or country is preferably configurable at entitylevel). Entities can also define at channel level if they wish thisbranch selection option to be displayed.

-   -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—OTP Token. The system provides the        user with the ability to select from the following delivery        channels:    -   By Mail: Users will be able to receive the OTP token delivered        to the mailing address. The mailing address should follow the        one that is captured in Gather Application Data    -   By Courier: Users will be able to receive the OTP token        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured in Gather Application Data    -   Branch: Users will collect/be presented with the OTP token at a        branch.

In some embodiments, any communication (e.g. email, courier, mail, SMS,IVR, printing, etc.) is handled by the communication module.

For certain areas such as the United States, credentials (User Name andPassword) may be fulfilled via two different delivery channels (e.g.,the customer may select their user name but receive their password inthe mail).

For any of the delivery channels, fulfilment may be fully automated, andthere will be no manual intervention required for such communications(i.e., for any material as part of fulfilment).

The outcome of the ID&V milestone may impact the Audit/IT securityrequirement for Internet Banking credentials.

-   -   Phone Banking. Initiate Fulfilment—Generate Phone Banking        Credentials. In some embodiments, Phone Banking credential        generation is fulfilled within Product Configuration. Users have        already captured the need to generate a new PB credential.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Phone Banking Credentials. The        system provides the user with the ability to select from the        following delivery channels:    -   Instant: Users will generate the credentials instantly on the        screen. This should apply in instances where the applicant is        able to create his own credential real time.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the        temporary credential delivered to the mailing address/or a        letter to request the customer to call to set up the PB        credentials. The mailing address should follow the one that is        captured from Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the        credential delivered to the mailing address/or a letter to        request the customer to call to set up the PB credentials. The        mailing address should follow the one that is captured from        Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Branch: The system will generate a request to other systems for        the temporary credentials generation (i.e. integration point) at        or delivered to a branch. The branch location is captured from        Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Email: Users will receive an email that indicates the temporary        credentials/instruction to request the customer call to set up        the PB credentials.    -   SMS: Users will receive an SMS that indicates the temporary        credentials/instruction to request the customer call to set up        the PB credentials.    -   IVR: Users would be confirmed by the IVR system to after        generating a Phone banking PIN. This is only applicable at a        call center environment    -   Debit/ATM Card. Initiate Fulfilment—Generate Debit/ATM Card        Plastic. In some embodiments, users have already captured the        need to generate a (or more for joint customers) new Debit/ATM        card within Product Configuration. The system may provide an        integration point to the entity's Debit/ATM card generation        system. Debit/ATM cards may be generated with or without        activation of the account.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Debit/ATM Card Plastic. The system        provides the user with the ability to select the following        delivery channels:    -   Instant: Pre-embossed Debit/ATM card plastics are delivered to        the customers. This is applicable in a branch environment only.        It is therefore up to an entity as to whether this is supported        or not.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive the Debit/ATM card plastic        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow that captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive the Debit/ATM card        plastic delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address        should follow that captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Branch: The system will generate a request to other systems for        the Plastic to be delivered to a branch. The branch location is        captured from Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Initiate Fulfilment—Generate Debit/ATM Card PIN. In some        embodiments, debit/ATM Card PIN generation is fulfilled within        Product Configuration. Users have already captured the need to        generate a new Debit/ATM Card PIN as a request type.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Debit/ATM Card PIN. The system        provides the user with the ability to select the following        delivery channels:    -   Instant: Users will select the PIN instantly in a branch. They        could also receive a PIN if it is auto-generated instantly.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the PIN        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow that captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the PIN        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow that captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Branch: The system will generate a request to other systems for        the PIN generation (e.g., integration point) at or delivered to        a branch. The branch location is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Email: Users will receive an email that indicates the PIN.    -   d SMS: Users will receive an SMS that indicates the PIN.

Definitions of a debit card and an ATM card may vary from site to site.Herein, a debit card is used for a checking product whereas ATM card isused for a saving product. For India, for example, an ATM card may allowthe customer to perform any ATM functions (e.g., withdraw cash/deposit).A debit card may allow customers to perform all ATM functions, inaddition to point of sales transaction.

The generation of a Debit/ATM Card Plastic Card may or may not requirean account number, depending on local implementation. All pendingprocesses may or may not be required to be completed for thisfulfilment.

In some embodiments, for the issuing of debit and credit cards, wherethe customer has selected the same delivery method for both the card andthe PIB, the card and the PIN are sent separately.

-   -   Credit Card. Initiate Fulfilment—Generate Credit Card Plastic.        In some embodiments, users have already captured the need to        generate a new credit card within Product Configuration. The        system may provide an integration point to the entity's credit        card generation system. Credit cards may be generated with or        without activation. The credit card fulfilment supports the        generation of multiple plastic cards in a single account opening        process (e.g., if requested for items such as secondary        cardholders or authorized users). It also supports the necessary        account numbers required for that account type (e.g., commercial        accounts can have multiple account numbers assigned and        corresponding plastics to be generated and sent out).    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Credit Card Plastic. The system        provides the user with the ability to select the following        delivery channels:    -   Instant: Pre-embossed Credit card plastics are delivered to the        customers. This is applicable in a branch environment only.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive the credit card plastic        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive the credit card plastic        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Branch: Users will collect the credit card plastic at a branch.        The branch location is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Initiate Fulfilment—Generate Credit Card PIN. Credit Card PIN        generation is fulfilled within Product Configuration. In some        embodiments, users have already captured the need to generate a        new Credit Card PIN as a request type.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Credit Card PIN. The system provides        the user with the ability to select the following delivery        channels:    -   Instant: Users will select the PIN instantly in a branch.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the PIN        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the PIN        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow that captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Branch: The system will generate a request to other systems for        the PIN generation (e.g., integration point) at or delivered to        a branch. The branch location is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Email: Users will receive an email that indicates the PIN.    -   SMS: Users will receive a SMS that indicates the PIN.    -   IVR: Users would be confirmed by the IVR system to after        generating an credit card PIN. This is only applicable at a call        center environment. In U.S., this can be requested through the        Activation VRU.    -   Initiate Fulfilment—Balance Transfer. A confirmation        letter/message for Balance Transfer may be required to indicate        the number of days the balance will be transferred. Users may        have already selected this option within Product Configuration.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Balance Transfer. The system        provides the user with the ability to select the following        delivery channels:    -   Instant: Users will be able to read the confirmation message        online on screen.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the        confirmation letter delivered to the mailing address. The        mailing address should follow the one that is captured from        Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive a paper copy of the        confirmation letter delivered to the mailing address. The        mailing address should follow the one that is captured from        Product Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Fax: Users will be able to receive a fax copy of the        confirmation letter to their fax number. The fax number should        follow the one that is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Branch: Users will collect/be presented with the confirmation        letter at a branch. The branch location is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Email: Users will receive an email that indicates the        confirmation of the balance transfer.    -   SMS: Users will receive a SMS that indicates the confirmation of        the balance transfer.

Merchant Private Label and co-brand Credit Cards may or may not besupported.

For certain countries such as the United States (U.S.), a credit cardmay be sent out without activation. In countries such as Europe, CHIPand PIN technology is used, therefore cards can be sent out activebecause they cannot be utilized until a separate PIN comes in the mail.

The generation of a Credit Card Plastic may or may not require anaccount number, depending on local implementation. All pending processesmay or may not required to be completed for this fulfilment.

The card plastic supports embossing specifications as provided by thebusiness, portfolio or as mandated by partnership or associationagreements (e.g., fourth line embossing for Business Name).

The limit on the credit card has preferably been pre-defined.

In cases where processing is not real-time, the issuer will receiveconfirmation of approximately how long processing will take. The userwill receive another communication once the processing has beencompleted.

For the issuance of debit and credit cards, where the customer hasselected the same delivery method for both the card and the PIN, thecard and the PIN are preferably sent separately.

Balance Transfer (Cash Express): In some embodiments, a check may begenerated as part of the balance transfer. The check may be delivered inthe same way as a check book.

-   -   Check Book. Initiate Fulfilment—Generate Check Book. In some        embodiments, users have already captured the need to request a        new check book within Product Configuration. The system may        provide an integration point to the entity's Check book and or        Credit Book generation system.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Generate Check Book. The system        provides the user with the ability to select the following        delivery channels:    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive the check book delivered to        the mailing address. The mailing address should follow the one        that is captured from Product Configuration/Gather Application        Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive the check book delivered        to the mailing address. The mailing address should follow the        one that is captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Branch collection: Users will collect the check book at a        branch. The branch location is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.

The generation of a check book may or may not require all pendingprocesses to be completed, depending on local implementation.

-   -   Terms and Conditions (T&C). Initiate Fulfilment—Terms and        Conditions. Terms and Conditions/rates and tariffs fulfilment        may be triggered by users who are ready to accept the agreement        of the account/product being opened. The fulfilment materials        preferably include all required documents related to T&C.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Materials—Terms and Conditions. The system        provides options for the users to select the delivery channel of        a the T&C materials from the following:    -   Instant: T&C information is required to be displayed on the        screen/downloadable file. Users are required to read and agree        with the T&C/Rates and Tariffs on the screen.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive the T&C/Rates and Tariffs        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured in Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive the T&C/Rates and Tariffs        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured in Gather Application Data.    -   Fax: Users will be able to receive a fax copy of the T&C/Rates        and Tariffs to their fax number. The fax number should follow        the one that is captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Branch: Users will collect/be presented with the T&C/Rates and        Tariffs at a branch. Users may be required to read and agree        with the T&C/Rates and Tariffs.    -   Email: Users will be able to receive an email with the        instruction to retrieve T&C/Rates and Tariffs information or an        attachment of the T&C.

In some embodiments, the forms/templates are defined within thecommunication module.

T&C preferably includes Credit Protection, Identity Protection Plus andCredit Keeper information if selected from product configuration,Rewards or any other product requiring terms and conditions.

-   -   Welcome Package. Initiate Fulfilment—Welcome Package. In some        embodiments, the system may generate a welcome package based on        the product type and/or customer type. The welcome package is        configurable by the entity. The fulfilment materials may include        all required documents related to Welcome Package. The items        within the welcome package are configurable by the entity.        Examples of the items within a welcome package include: Welcome        letter (generated, for example, based on the product type,        customer type and/or if OTP token is required) and        Promotional/Welcome gift.

A gift may be initiated from a promotion or account opening (e.g., abottle of wine). This is preferably captured during ProductConfiguration/Gather Application Data.

The system preferably supports both manual and automated processes togenerate a promotional/welcome gift. For Manual generation, the systemshould indicate that the customer is qualified for a promotional/welcomegift. Staff will then fulfill this item manually. For Straight-throughgeneration, where possible, the system should provide an integrationpoint to the entity's gift generation system.

-   -   Deliver Fulfilment Materials—Welcome package. The system        provides options for the users to select the delivery channel of        the welcome package from the following:    -   Instant: Welcome Package is required to be displayed on the        screen/downloadable file.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive the Welcome Package        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured in Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive the Welcome Package        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured in Gather Application Data.    -   Fax: Users will be able to receive a fax copy of the Welcome        package to their fax number. The fax number should follow the        one that is captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Branch: Users will collect/be presented with the Welcome Package        at a branch.    -   Email: Users will be able to receive an email with the        instruction to retrieve Welcome Package information or an        attachment of the Welcome Package.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Materials—Promotional/Welcome gift. The        system provides options for the users to select the delivery        channel of a promotional/welcome gift from the following:    -   Instant: Where possible, the gift is required to be displayed on        the screen (e.g., a coupon/discount).    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive the gift delivered to the        mailing address. The mailing address should follow the one that        is captured in Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive the gift delivered to the        mailing address. The mailing address should follow the one that        is captured in Gather Application Data.    -   Fax: Where possible, users will be able to receive a gift fax to        their fax number (e.g., a coupon/discount). The fax number        should follow that captured from Product Configuration/Gather        Application Data.    -   Branch: Users will collect/be presented with the gift at a        branch.    -   Email: Users will be able to receive an email with the        instruction to receive the gift or an attachment.    -   SMS: Users will receive a SMS that indicates the instruction to        receive the gift.

The nature of the gift may vary depending on the promotion and product.This is configured by the entity.

For certain countries such as Brazil, for PFS and SME (small/mediumenterprise) new checking accounts may be sent a Welcome Kit and for SME(only) a welcome gift may also be sent. The Welcome Kit (Letter) may begenerated by the checking account system.

The forms/templates are preferably defined within the communicationmodule. In some embodiments, for example for printed materials,forms/templates may be defined within the local entity.

For certain countries such as the U.S., the Welcome letter may includeCredit Protection, Identity Protection Plus, and/or Credit Keeperinformation if selected from product configuration.

A branch/third party vendor may receive an advice to issue a welcomepackage, for example after a particular ‘trigger’ by the customer/staffmember (in some embodiments, this only applies to postal options).Entities are able to define at which stage the welcome pack is sent(e.g., after all milestones are completed or just certain ones) and thisis configurable at channel level.

-   -   Decision Notification. Initiate Fulfilment—Decision        Notification. In some embodiments, the system may generate a        notification based on the final decision on the application. The        notification could be in a form of a letter or a message on the        screen. It should indicate the number of days required for        processing or the declined reason if the application is        declined.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Decision Status Notification. The        system provides options for the users to select the delivery        channel for notification of the application decision status from        the following:    -   Instant: The final decision of the application is required to be        displayed on the screen/downloadable file.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive the notification letter        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured in Gather Application Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive the notification letter        delivered to the mailing address. The mailing address should        follow the one that is captured in Gather Application Data.    -   Fax: Users will be able to receive a fax copy of the        notification letter to their fax number. The fax number should        follow the one that is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Branch: Users will collect/be presented with the notification        letter at a branch.    -   Email: Users will be able to receive an email with the        instruction to retrieve application status, an attachment, or        the application decision.    -   SMS: Users will receive a SMS that indicates the application        status.

For the decision notification, an entity may decide to add telephone asa delivery channel (e.g., where an application has been referred and thecustomer would like receive a telephone call instead of waiting foranother method of delivery).

Where a customer has selected the branch as the delivery for channel fora decision notification, the selected branch may receive the letter (orother notification) from another area, along with some form ofnotification that the customer will be collecting the letter/item.

The forms/templates may be defined within the communication module, orwithin the local entities' systems.

-   -   Dispensing Notice. Initiate Fulfilment—Generate Dispensing        Notice. In some embodiments, users have already captured the        need to request a dispensing notice within Product        Configuration.    -   Deliver Fulfilment Material—Dispensing Notice. The system        provides options for the users to select the delivery channel of        the dispensing notice from the following:    -   Instant: Dispensing notice is required to be displayed on the        screen/downloadable file. The users are required to read and        agree with the dispensing notice on the screen.    -   Mail: Users will be able to receive the dispensing notice        delivered to the mailing address. The users are required to read        and sign the notice and return to the bank. The mailing address        should follow the one that is captured in Gather Application        Data.    -   Courier: Users will be able to receive the dispensing notice        delivered to the mailing address. The users are required to read        and sign the notice and return to the bank. The mailing address        should follow the one that is captured in Gather Application        Data.    -   Fax: Users will be able to receive a fax copy of the dispensing        notice to their fax number. The users are required to read and        sign the notice and return to the bank. The fax number should        follow the one that is captured from Product        Configuration/Gather Application Data.    -   Branch: Users will collect/be presented with the dispensing        notice at a branch. The users are required to read and sign the        notice and return to the bank.    -   Email: Users will be able to receive an email with the        instruction to retrieve dispensing notice or an attachment.

In some embodiments, dispensing notice is only applicable for jointaccounts. Dispensing Notice forms/templates are preferably definedwithin the communication module.

-   -   Stationery Items. In some embodiments, the system may also        support fulfilment of requests for stationery items (e.g., from        within Product Configuration). Examples of stationary items        include, but are not limited to, check book covers, card        wallets, and pre-paid envelopes. These items are all configured        by the sites, and may have a delivery method of Mail, Courier,        or Branch.    -   Fulfilment Status Tracking. The system provides application        status functionality. The system can also retrieve the progress        and status of a fulfilment item from other systems which may be        responsible for producing and delivering the items.

The system may indicate the progress and status to the users as far asthe system can ascertain (e.g., check book will be delivered in 5business days). In some embodiments, the system may tie this back to thecommunication module for periodic status updates via email if the emailaddress is available for the customer.

End-to-End Specifications Content Maintenance

In addition to the component flexibility described above, there areother areas where the Business can preferably control the accountopening process. One such area is the content that appears on screenduring the user journey, depending on product selected and customersegment. The content may include the account opening application formitself and the static system content. These are split into two areas,page level controls and process level controls.

Page level controls may include, for example, but are not limited to:

-   -   Ability to show and hide fields within the application form,        including dependency rules with other fields (e.g. Show this        field If that field is completed or If that field=“Yes”, etc.).    -   Ability to set field default values    -   Ability to make fields mandatory or optional, preferably with        the ability to change this status conditionally based on entry        into other fields    -   Ability to make fields editable or read only    -   Ability to set field validation rules (from defined rules, e.g.        only accept numeric characters, date fields, decimal format,        etc.)    -   Ability to create cross field/form validation, preferably        through Business controlled rules    -   Ability to pre-fill data into the application where it is        already held in our systems. This data may or may not be        displayed to the customer during the application process,        depending on local entity requirements. For example, for        existing customers, there may be a “One Click Buy” option where        they take one action that can immediately open an account        without any data being displayed to them, but where that data        has been retrieved and pre-filled into the underlying        application behind the scenes, whereas another entity might wish        to display all the data to the customer    -   Ability to make field label changes    -   Ability to change the order of data fields (or data        groups/portlets)    -   Ability to support multiple currencies    -   Ability to use pre-defined validation formats (including data        formats)    -   Ability to support tags, scripts and reporting for web analytics    -   Ability to determine the look and feel of the application        (including importing graphics, static text, HTML, support for        cascading style sheets CSS, background color, tables, fonts,        styles, etc.)    -   Ability to select which validation rules apply to a field.        Validation rules may include, for example:        -   Number format, max/min length validation for numeric fields        -   Text format (alphabets, alpha-numeric, etc.), min/max length            validation for text fields        -   Date type and format validations for date fields        -   Predefined format validations (email, phone number, etc)    -   More than one validation may be added to a field.    -   Ability to define whether or not additional fields display,        where a customer has selected a particular option from a        dropdown, this field could contain predefined dropdowns, or not        display a particular fields    -   Ability to be able to create (without IT intervention) multiple        steps within a milestone    -   Ability to design the layout, look and feel, content, and        selectable options. The entity also has the ability to preview        the design before submitting it to the live environment    -   Ability to import an existing webpage/form/HTML prototype into        the application form designer    -   Ability to export forms and files from the application form        designer into a compressed format for archival    -   The ability to display a step tracker at a chosen location on an        application form. The steps presented can accurately represent        the milestones and, upon entity configuration of multiple steps        within milestones (without IT intervention), the steps within        the milestones. A milestone may comprise of multiple steps, some        of which are separated by intervening milestones. For example,        Personal Details (name, address) followed by Product Selection        followed by additional details (e.g. Employment details) as        three separate steps. If a step is skipped, it is to be        considered complete (if allowed as part of that product e.g.        funding).    -   Error messages—Flexible tool designer should allow the entity to        define/edit custom error messages for individual data/form        fields without any IT support. Flexibility tool designer should        also allow business users to configure the display of validation        messages as desired.    -   The business user should be able to add new data fields (e.g.,        date, numeric, selection data type, text), based on the input        fields required to be present on the form. Apart from the type,        the business user should be able to define the properties such        as default value, max/min length, and format for the new data        fields.    -   Expression builder utility for business users to create a        validation using multiple fields (cross field validation) and to        define a validation rule (create conditional statements) for        more than one data fields (multiple data fields)    -   Ability to embed media files into application forms    -   Ability to link to a document held on the entity's systems    -   Ability to allow a customer to add additional field(s) as and        when necessary. For example, the customer only has to enter one        phone number as mandatory but can add others if applicable.    -   An entity can create an external link Upon selection of that        link a configurable (without IT intervention) warning message        can appear. The options to continue and cancel are offered and        the names are configurable by the entity (without IT        intervention). The warning may be displayed on the page (after        selection of the link), as an interstitial page, or as a        pop-up—this is configurable by the entity (without IT        intervention).    -   Validation of input—The following field validation may occur        when the field has lost focus (“In-line validation”): character        validity checking, field length and cross-field validation with        prior fields that are related. This should not happen        pre-emptively (on as-yet-uncompleted fields). Errors found        should be presented on the page immediately next to the field,        without refreshing the page. On submission of the application or        when moving from one page to the next the following validation        should take place (“page validation”): check for mandatory        fields, complete cross field validation, and applicable host        validation. Errors should be presented next to the appropriate        field(s) and also in a list form at the top of the page    -   Ability to display a help tip on selection or mouseover (entity        configurable without IT intervention)    -   Ability to customize the ID&V screens per journey    -   Ability to be able to create calculator functions in the form    -   Ability to configure an email sending facility through an        application form. The application should be able connect to the        COMMS module. Business should be able to configure a form        control (button/link, next/submit/save action) that can trigger        an email to the specified email ID    -   Externalization of business maintainable content/content        management/NLS. In addition the business should be able to        maintain the externalized contents    -   Configure options—The entity must be able to define (business        without IT intervention) the “configure options” that are        presented to an applicant at the product (e.g., add line of        credit to account) and customer (e.g., contact preferences)        levels. The selection of “Register for Internet Banking” within        the Account Opening process must support yes and no for both        channels. The champion journey will present the “yes” option        only for the Internet channel. The staff channel will present        “yes” and “no”    -   Ability to support Postal Code (or similar, such as ZIP code)        validation via a third party service. When possible the        automatic completion of addresses should be supported    -   Ability to present Account Opening in multiple “look and feels”        to support multiple propositions (i.e. Premier, Direct, PFS,        CMB, and others). The Staff and Internet channels may require        different look and feels per proposition within same entity    -   The ‘Vanity URL’ displayed in the wireframes for PIB access must        be entity configurable. This is a line of entity definable text        that displays a non-clickable URL. The information is intended        for a call center agent to read out to the customer    -   Spelling can be localized by entities (e.g., Centre versus        Center)    -   The page level error messages should include all block and field        level errors. In addition, where a field has been entered        incorrectly as well as the indication that there is a problem        i.e. X or red highlight, the appropriate error message should be        displayed as well (e.g., when the customer exits the field they        should not have to click an action button to see the message).    -   Dynamic Content—The ability to create dynamic content, based on        attributes of the function, product types, customer data and        channel etc.    -   Presentation Layer—The ability to update or champion/challenge        the presentation layer, based on user testing recommendations,        metrics, or feedback.    -   Pagination and Sorting—The ability to paginate results or data        to minimize the amount of data that is consumed by the end user.        Includes the control to select how many results the end user        wants in view per page and the ability to sort a column of data        within a table.    -   Page Print—The ability for an end user to print any page        presented to them, in any channel.    -   Parameter Management—The ability to pass parameter values (e.g.        Tracker code, voucher code, product ID) within a link and see it        being passed through from the beginning to the end.    -   Multi language support/language toggle—The ability to change the        language on a page by switching to another language in a        drop-down menu or ‘toggling’ back and forth from one language to        another.    -   State Management—Ability to hold various parameters needed to        define a journey (e.g. channel, country, product, etc.) within a        ‘Global State’ to be held and passed into and through the        journey    -   User Preferences—Ability for screens to keep front-end display        user preferences such as remembering last view, pagination        configuration, and sort order of columns.    -   Cookie Database—Screens utilize a Cookie Database for storage        and retrieval of information for authenticated and        non-authenticated users that visit the websites, across domains        and across Group sites to support personalization of content        based on rule sets and customer preferences    -   Define Fields—Add, remove, move fields or update field label        text. The ability to move fields across blocks, from one data        block to another. The ability to manage all field labels for        both language and regional differences.    -   Hide/Show Field—The ability to hide/show fields that have        already been part of pre-defined data block, portlet. The        ability to enable conditional show-hide of fields on a screen        such that a particular field is hidden in the form, and if the        condition is met or value entered by the user, hidden field is        displayed. The ability to define the logic/condition to        enable/disable conditional Presentation Layer—The ability to        update or champion/challenge the presentation layer, based on        user testing recommendations, metrics, or feedback.    -   Pre-fill Field—The ability to automatically populate/copy the        contents from one data field to another, based on a particular        condition. The ability to show or hide the field when it is        pre-filled. The ability to define certain pre-filled fields as        ‘read-only’ so it is not editable by the end user. The ability        to mask certain pre-filled fields to hide part of the data. The        ability to pre-fill data fields based on information that we        already hold on the customer in the host system or another data        store.    -   Field Syntax Validation Rules—Provide ready to use validation        that can be enabled or disabled. Ability to define validation        rules or bypass validation rules.    -   Real Time Field Validation Setting—The ability to turn on/off        the FE syntax validation as the user enters information        (checkmarks) and to rely solely on the server side validation.    -   Cross Field Validation Setting—Ability to compare the values        entered into two or more fields in a flow to see if their        contents can be considered valid in combination.    -   Multi-Level List Selector Field—The ability to define        multi-level list for a field. Depending on the selection on the        first list, the values in the other dependent lists would be        dynamically populated.    -   Read/Write Data—The front-end will also have the ability to        retrieve data (read) from a back-end data store or host system        and will also have the ability to write data away to a back-end        data store or host system upon a page submit.    -   BDE (Business Development Environment)—BDE is the primary        content management user tool. It provides templates that allow        users to make updates to pages, screens, content and        communications without the need of IT programming resources but        with proper user controls.    -   Communications Content Management—Within the BDE there is a        dedicated work area where practitioners can build, assemble and        develop ICCM communications using document fragments,        pre-designed templates and custom data capture forms. Users can        build ICCM content across delivery channels, in multiple        languages and also reuse fragments, images, headers and footers.    -   Content Deployment—Provides the ability to deploy changes        directly to pre-production or production environments. This        improves the time to market for a variety of content changes and        reduces the IT support staff required to manage frequent        business changes.    -   Channel Page and Assembly—The ability to define the information        architecture and individual pages to make up an entire channel,        site or microsite.    -   Page Template Development—Ability to develop page template used        to format content and to ensure consistent presentation    -   Page Navigation Development—Ability to develop page navigation        which typically comprises of top level tabs, left hand        navigation, in page tabs and links within a function or page or        right hand supporting content.    -   Content Spots—Ability to manage content spots within or outside        of a function via properties files or JSP that are business        deployable.    -   Portlet Preferences—Configuration points per function that can        be managed and located within the individual portlets, which are        managed by content managers via the BDE.    -   Preview Capability—The ability to preview changes within the BDE        or local environment without a dependency on an SDE (or SAT/UAT)        content deployment.

Exemplary Process level controls may include, for example, but are notlimited to:

-   -   Ability to move pages around in the flow or processes within        pages around the page (including ability to do this        conditionally depending on what has previously occurred in the        process)    -   Ability to conditionally control the product related data        required, depending on the product selected or customer segment        (e.g. Premier vs. PFS customers)    -   Ability to define the next page displayed after submission,        saving or cancellation    -   Ability to connect to a communication system    -   Ability to create links to open documents in different formats        for printing (e.g. PDF, Word, HTML, etc.)    -   Ability to display a warning if a user attempts to abandon an        application    -   Ability to integrate other UI components (e.g. multi-level        lists, product calculators, Captcha, etc.) to any milestone or        step within a milestone.    -   Ability to preview any changes before they are deployed and be        able to test and live prove them before they are deployed    -   Ability to save journeys that have been created    -   Ability to integrate with existing websites    -   Ability to quickly revert to a previously deployed journey when        required (if, for example, a newly deployed journey is not        working as well as a previously deployed one)    -   Ability to construct multiple account opening customer journeys        for a single product and to be able to run these concurrently in        production, with the ability to direct differing volumes of        incoming traffic amongst the journeys. This allows for “test and        learn” tactics to be employed to quickly compare how the        journeys are performing against each other    -   Ability to print the blank application form for customer to        complete, which can dynamically change as the customer journey        is amended (e.g., for CMB)    -   Fields that are configured to be hidden in the Internet version        of a form or not added to the Internet version of a form may be        configured to be visible on the Staff channel    -   The Tools menu is to be accessible by staff on all account        opening pages. The entity can configure the tools within the        menus.

Generally, the front end framework capabilities provide the ability totailor prospect, customer and staff screens with the content andfunctionality required for step-by-step journey process flows.Particularly preferred journey management capabilities are those to: Addcontent to a page; Move Step Order in a Flow/Journey (the ability tochange the order of portal pages within a journey or the order of portalsteps within a journey); Move Field within/across step (the ability tomove a single or block of fields within a step or to a different step);Branch Points in a Journey (the ability for the business to designdynamic page flow on the basis of decisions made by the user, either bysetting up a different set of pages or by a single page with dynamiccontent that would render the appropriate content depending on a rule);Add a link within a portlet (the ability to add a link within a portletto define the page navigation flow); Add a new unit-of-work as a subflow, without impact on the business logic of existing unit-of-work (theability to configure the screen flow to skip or add one or more screensand reach any screen directly using one of the following controls:Hyperlink, Button, Radio button, Check box, or Image Button); andChampion Flow/Journey Configuration (the ability to navigate fromportlet to portlet within a single step, build journey by mergingjourney, merging available/existing journeys into a new journey, orintegrate new journey into existing journey).

The Business is able to make any of these changes at any time (24/7, 365days a year) and deploy them within a Business maintainable, specifiedtime period of the changes being made. This applies to customer andstaff channels equally.

In some embodiments, a check may be performed in the account openingsystem that checks the data collected against that required by the hostsystem. If all data is present and correct and the application processis complete and approved, then the account opening system will send thedata to the host system to open the account. If there is any discrepancyin the data between that held in the account opening system and thatrequired in the host system, the data will not be sent to the hostsystem and the application will be dropped into the queue for manualfollow-up and correction. This will prevent complex system rules fromhaving to be built directly into the account opening system. However, ifthis situation has occurred, an alert should be immediately sent to theBusiness user/team responsible for the configuration, so that the errorin the front end configuration can be immediately corrected to preventevery single application that follows from dropping into the queue formanual follow up.

An example scenario may be in considering product options available in ahost system for a selected product, for instance a check account. Theunderlying host system will control what product options are applicableto the check account. For example, the following product options may beavailable in the host system: Overdraft protection; Check Book;ATM/Debit Card. When the Business configures the application formscreens for product option selection for the Checking account product,they must ensure the options displayed to the user match the aboveoptions, as this is what the host system will be expecting in the datait is sent for an account to be opened successfully. If a mistake ismade and, for example, the Check Book option was omitted in error fromthe front end screen, then it would not match the product options thehost system was expecting, and would drop out into a queue for businessfollow up rather than go to the host system, where an account creationmight otherwise fail. If this happened, an alert may notify the Businessthat something is wrong with the user experience that has been createdthat needs attention.

During the account opening process, the acknowledgement page shows theassigned account number for approved and completed applications (for allchannels). EAN (external account number) and IBAN (interne banking AN)support and/or the BIC (Bank Identifier Code) may be required. In someembodiments, it is also possible for an entity not to display an accountnumber to the customer at the product level (e.g., a site may not wantto show a credit card number at this stage).

For opening new term deposit accounts, the term duration, indicativeterm interest rate and indicative term maturity preferably date togetherwith the term currency and amount may be displayed to the customer(wherein the flow is entity configurable). The actual term interest rateand term start and maturity date may be booked at the time when theaccount is actually opened.

System content refers to static text and/or graphics (e.g. marketingbanners).

In a similar way, the Business has the ability to create, maintain anddelete static text that is or can be displayed by the system, as well asthe ability to create, maintain or delete any graphics that are or canbe displayed. The Business should be able to make any of these changesat any time (24/7/365) and be able to deploy them within a Businessmaintainable, specified time period of the changes being made. Again,this preferably applies to customer and staff channels equally.

Preferably, the staff that are able to use these editing functions arestrictly controlled by entitlements (this applies to both theapplication form and system content functions). In some embodiments, thesystem may support a Business model whereby a central, regional orglobal team may control the content being created and deployed aroundthe group, so that cost can be centralized and best practice can beshared across the group. Therefore, the staff involved would preferablyhave entitlements that allowed them to create and maintain customerjourneys for other entities around the region or group, as well as beingable to preview and deploy the changes quickly to those entities.

Save and Retrieve Applications

This section describes specifications related to enabling an applicationfor a new product to be saved at any point during the applicationprocess and retrieved at a later time for completion. It may be possibleto save and retrieve the same application more than once.

This functionality is preferably delivered seamlessly cross-channel. Forexample: A customer begins an application for a checking account on-linebut realizes they need assistance from a member of the staff. Thecustomer will be able to save the application and either walk into abranch or phone a call center, where a staff member will be able toretrieve the application and continue the account opening process.

A ‘journey ID’ may be created when the application is created and whenthe application is retrieved this journey ID can be referenced to allowthe user to continue with the journey originally started. New un-startedjourneys could change based on results of test and learn scenarios.

-   -   Save Application. This process is available across all channels,        although this option may or may not be available on all screens.        For instance if there is a screen that asks out of wallet        questions to a customer, it may not be appropriate to save the        application at this point due to fraud considerations. Where        enabled, the system clearly displays an option, allowing a user        (customer or staff member) to save the application at the point        which they have reached. There may be different scenarios for        new and existing customers when saving.

Each application may be assigned a unique application reference number(e.g., where multiple products are applied for, the reference number maybe assigned to the application, not to each product within theapplication), which can be used when retrieving the application at alater date, amongst other retrieval methods. If the customer applies fortwo of the same product, each application may be given a uniquereference number. The format of the reference number given when anapplicant saves an application should be in a consistent format as thereference number given to Joint applicants.

Previous pages the user has already completed have preferably beenvalidated as they move between pages. For example, for a 5 pageapplication wherein the user saves on page 3: Pages 1 and 2 have alreadybeen validated as the user moved to page 3. Pages 3 to 5 will bevalidated when a user retrieves and continues the application.

There is preferably a minimum set of data defined to support credentialcreation.

In some embodiments, the save functionality may be turned on/off atchannel level. If the save button is ‘hidden’, the system will alwayssave the data regardless of channel.

-   -   Scenario 1—Existing Customers (PFS/CMB) applying with security        credentials confirmed. FIG. 31 shows a schematic of this        scenario.

When an application for an existing customer with their securitycredentials confirmed is saved by a user (customer or staff), theinformation that has been entered to this point will be captured andsaved. The system will check the customer's profile or the applicationto see if there is an e-mail address present. If there isn't, the userwill be given the option of entering the customer's e-mail address.

If an e-mail address is present at the time of saving, the productdetails and the unique application reference number for the applicationwill be sent through the COMMS module to the customer, as a reminderthat they have an incomplete application outstanding, with details ofhow to retrieve and continue with their application. The time periodafter which a chaser communication is sent is configurable at entity andproduct level. In addition, an entity can define if any ‘grace’ periodfor completing an application should be from the date of the originalinitiation of the application, or the date of the last update.

Alternatively, if no e-mail address is available, the details of theapplication and retrieval methods will be sent to the customer, usingtheir preferred communication method.

Communications may be compiled and issued to customers through theCommunications Module.

In the case of a joint application, the subsequent applicant(s)application details will also be linked to their customer record(s) anda communication will be issued to them in a similar way to thatdescribed above for the first applicant. However, the first applicantwill not receive a copy of any communication issued to the jointapplicant(s).

The system will display the unique application reference number to theuser(s) as confirmation. The reference number will be the same for alljoint parties, as the application is the same application.

A lead will be generated in the sales system in order that uncompletedapplications can be followed up at a later time, if they remainunfinished. Any update/completion of the application (either by thecustomer or CSR), will automatically update the lead (in someembodiments, there is only one lead per product per application percustomer). The Sales Solutions team can pre-define the attributes thatwill be populated as part of the lead, and will be in line with existinglead systems.

Where an existing customer is logging on, if that customer haspreviously opted for a ‘physical’ keyboard (e.g., a CSR has updated thepreference on behalf of the customer), this preference should berecognized and the physical keyboard should be displayed to thecustomer.

-   -   Scenario 2—Existing Customers (PFS/CMB) applying without        security credentials. This scenario is depicted in FIG. 32.

If a customer wants to save an application and they haven't confirmedtheir security credentials, they will be asked if they are an existingcustomer and given the opportunity to provide and validate theirsecurity credentials, if they have any, at the time of saving.

The scenario is if the customer wants to apply and does not have alog-in, the Business would like to provide the ability to generateinstant credentials with, for example, the customer's ATM card numberand PIN, which would bring in the customer profile.

If they are an existing customer and take this option, the save of theapplication will take place similarly to scenario 1.

If the customer is an existing customer and they do not already havesecurity credentials set up or are unable to provide an ATM card numberor PIN (or other information), when the application data is saved, thecustomer will be presented with the option of creating securitycredentials to link to their profile at that time, similar to a new tobank customer but this would have to be supported by a robust profilemerge process, so that the existing customer did not end up with twocustomer profiles. If the customer chooses to do this, the save of theapplication will take place similarly to scenario 1.

If the existing customer declines all these options along the journeyand still saves the application, the system will be required to check tosee if the customer is an existing customer by matching the data enteredagainst the customer profile records held. Entities can define whichdata should be checked again the customer profile records held.

If a unique match is found assuming the applicant has proven he is whohe claims to be (and not before), similar to scenario 1, if an e-mailaddress is present on the customer profile, the product details and theunique application reference number (application reference number ID)for the application will be sent by e-mail to the customer, as areminder that they have an incomplete application outstanding, withdetails of how to retrieve and continue with their application.

Alternatively, similar to scenario 1, if no e-mail address is available,the details of the application and retrieval methods will be sent to thecustomer, using their preferred communication method. The process willcontinue the same as scenario 1 from this point.

In addition, if a match is found, the application should be linked tothe customer profile to prevent a duplicate customer profile from beingcreated.

-   -   Scenario 3—New Customers. This scenario is depicted in FIG. 33.

When an application for a new customer is saved by a user (customer orstaff), the information that has been entered to this point will becaptured and saved. In this scenario, if the customer initiates a newapplication, providing a customer profile was created for the customerfrom the first application, there should be a data pre-fill of knowndetails. Even if a profile is not created, this is all kept in theapplication database for re-use. The customer profile and record mayvary by entity.

If the customer has not provided an e-mail address up to this point ofthe data capture, the user will be given the opportunity to capture thecustomer's e-mail address.

If an e-mail address is provided, a request will be sent to theCommunications Module for an e-mail to be sent to the customer as areminder that they have an incomplete application outstanding, withdetails of how to retrieve and continue with their application.

Alternatively, if the new customer has supplied contact informationother than an e-mail address as part of the data capture, a request willbe issued to the Communications Module to send a reminder with detailsof how to retrieve and continue with their application.

If this is a joint application from two or more new customers, theprocess will be repeated for each new customer that has been identifiedby the primary applicant.

The system will display the unique application reference number to theuser(s) as confirmation. The reference number will be the same for alljoint parties, as the application is the same application.

A lead will be generated in the sales system in order that uncompletedapplications can be followed up at a later time, if they remainunfinished.

A ‘potential’ customer record should be created either when a customersaves an application (as they can only save if a minimum amount of datahas been entered) or when an application is completed.

Where the primary party is setting up a joint account, the informationto be provided about the second party is entity definable and should bein line with existing local back office systems regarding minimuminformation required to create a ‘potential’ customer record (e.g.,name, DOB, email address and ID).

-   -   Retrieve Application. FIG. 34 is an exemplary diagram        illustrating the Retrieve Application process. In some        embodiments, for Save and Retrieve, the customer and staff        channel customer journeys are configured identically, so that        the retrieved application is consistently presented to whichever        user is actioning it and the data remaining for capture is set.

Each orchestrated process preferably has a unique process ID, which islinked to the application so that when the application is retrieved, thesystem can pick up the same process it was originally following. Thisprevents issues that could occur, for example if a customer journey fora particular product is changed between the time the application wassaved and the time it is retrieved.

For example, a customer saves an application having completed only theGather Application Data and Funding Milestones, which have been put inthe journey as the first two data capture items. The customer journey isthen changed to put these milestones' data capture at the end and, forexample, Terms and Conditions and Configure Product are moved beforethem. This would potentially cause problems on retrieval if the systemmoved to the new process as some of the data capture that has alreadybeen completed would come later in the flow. Hence any application thatis saved will preferably retain its original process and see it toconclusion.

This provision should also assist call center staff that may beservicing more than one entity with the possibility that differententities have different customer journeys. By matching the process ID tothe application, the system can present the correct flow to the staff onan application by application basis.

After the application is complete, when a customer returns to PIB thereis preferably a link to any documentation needed (e.g., signature card,T&C, etc.), or various communications, or a return to the online summaryscreen for X days (entity definable).

Preferably applications can be retrieved through any channel, regardlessof which channel the application was started and saved on, to provide aseamless service to the customer. How the application is retrieved maydepend on the type of customer, the channel they are using to retrieveand continue the application, and whether they have securitycredentials.

In some embodiments, if an application record is locked by a user (e.g.,the application is currently open and being used by a customer or staffmember), then another user will be prevented from accessing the sameapplication record at the same time. Only when the first user hasreleased the record will another user be able to access it.

-   -   Identity Authentication. This section relates to what a user is        able to see when they retrieve a previously saved application.        Where a customer can prove their identity by use of security        credentials in a customer channel (self service) or by passing        identity checks in a staff channel, they may to retrieve an        application and review and amend previously entered data if        required (e.g., following the same validation rules as apply to        editable data fields and not read only fields).

There may be certain exceptions. For example, the customer experiencemay be set up so that the customer does not actually see any of the dataof the application (e.g., the “One Click Buy” scenario), so in this casethe opportunity to review or amend data will not be presented.

Another exemplary exception may be “new to bank” customers who havealready initiated the Validate Identity milestone before the applicationwas saved. In some embodiments, to prevent potential reverse engineeringscenarios and fraud, where an application is retrieved for a newcustomer and the Validate Identity milestone has started (even if notcomplete), the customer will not be able to view or change previouslyentered data and may only continue with the rest of the application fromthe point of save.

If the customer is an existing customer and has not established onlinesecurity credentials, they may be given the option of creating internetbanking credentials and are then able to access the saved application.Alternatively, they may use a staff channel to retrieve the applicationand pass through the identity checks relevant to that channel. If theexisting customer cannot pass identity checks through a staff channel,then procedures outside the AO process flow may be utilized.

The following sections describe exemplary application retrievalscenarios:

-   -   Scenario 1—Existing Customers—Internet Channel with or without        security credentials. Existing customers who log onto internet        banking with their security credentials can view outstanding        applications through their internet session.

Existing customers without internet banking credentials are preferablyable to ‘immediately register’ with predetermined identification (e.g.,ATM card number and PIN). They may then continue the same processdetailed for existing customers who already have credentials set up.

Otherwise, existing customers without security credentials will need togo through the full application like a new customer would (scenario 3 or4), but with a robust profile merge process in place, so that thecustomer doesn't end up with duplicate profiles. Preferably, the systemensures that a duplicate profile is not created for an existingcustomer. For example, even when a customer may not have identifiedthemselves as an existing customer (for whatever reason), if theyactually are an existing customer, the system ensures use of theirexisting profile and does not create a duplicate one.

In some embodiments, where an existing customer has credentials and hasbeen validated using them (e.g., logged onto internet banking), theapplication may be shown alongside existing accounts that are open, withthe status shown next to it.

For example, when a customer is logged onto internet banking they mightusually see their existing accounts along with the current balance ofthose accounts as follows:

Account Balance Checking Account $956.89 CR Savings Account $12,147.34CR

In some embodiments, the system may provide a new section under theexisting accounts, called Applications in Progress (or other businessmaintainable text), with details of the product applied for and thestatus of the application, for example as follows:

Existing Accounts Account Balance Checking Account $956.89 CR SavingsAccount $12,147.34 CR Applications in Progress Account Status CreditCard Application Saved

If there is still a customer action outstanding on the application(e.g., some data to be captured, terms and conditions not yet accepted,etc.), then there may be an option available for each pendingapplication that will take the customer directly back into theapplication at the appropriate point, if selected.

If the application is pending but not awaiting a customer action, thecustomer may see the status (e.g., application in progress, etc.) butthere will be no option to take them back into the application.

Once an application is retrieved, the process may continue the same asif it had not been saved in the first place and the customer will bereturned to the same point in the application as where it was saved.

However, as the customer identity has been validated in this scenario,the customer is preferably able to review and amend previously entereddata (before the save) as well as complete the rest of the data requiredto complete the application.

In some embodiments, if it is a joint account and all are existingcustomers with internet banking credentials, any of the joint applicantscan retrieve their own application details (and only their own) by thismethod. Logging into internet banking is enough to satisfy the ValidateIdentity milestone in this scenario.

The primary applicant will have provided the joint applicant(s) detailsduring the Gather Application Data milestone, which will link theapplication to the joint applicant(s).

Rules about how the joint applicant's data is presented or captured maybe specified in the Gather Application Data milestone.

If any of the customers are new customers in a joint application, thenif the new customer is using the internet to access the application thenscenario 3 below will apply.

If there is still an open sales lead (as was generated in the Saveprocess), then it is preferably updated automatically once theapplication has been completed.

-   -   Scenario 2—Existing Customers—Staff Channel. The functionality        described here relates to a customer-facing staff maintenance        function rather than the back office staff maintenance        functions.

If the application is for an existing customer and they make contactthrough a staff channel to retrieve and continue with an application,the staff member can retrieve the application through search optionssuch as the customer search function (as described for the GatherApplication Data milestone).

The staff member may be able to verify the customer identity asindicated in the Validate Identity milestone requirements document.

Similar to the customer channel in scenario 1, if the customer identityis validated, the staff channel will display an Applications in Progresssection, with an option to select the application for retrieval.

Alternatively, the staff member could search by application rather thancustomer. This search is a search of the application database, usingwhatever information the customer can supply. This information mayinclude details such as the unique application reference number, name,e-mail address, postal code, etc. The data items that can be used inthis search are preferably controlled by the Business in the applicationbuilder functionality being provided, so could vary from entity toentity. Any potential matches found in the application search will bepresented to the staff member to aid in further establishing which oneis for the correct customer and the correct application.

The staff member will again be required to validate the customeridentity before continuing and retrieving the application. If thecustomer identity is validated, the staff member will be given theoption to select an application from the search results, which willresult in the application being opened at the point where it was saved.If the customer cannot pass identity checks through a staff channel,then alternative procedures for dealing with this may be utilized.

Once an application is retrieved, the process will continue the same asif it had not been saved in the first place and the staff member will bereturned to the same point in the application as where it was saved. Thestaff member will be able to view the entire application. The staffmember will be able to amend previously saved data, if required.

One exception to this scenario may exist for new to bank customers. Ifthe application has already initiated the Validate Identity milestone,then previously captured details cannot be reviewed or amended duringthe application phase to help prevent reverse engineering and fraud andonly data not yet captured will be presented to the staff member forcapture.

In the new to bank customer case described, any changes required topreviously captured data (e.g. personal details) will be available tochange after the account is opened (account servicing).

If it is a joint account and all applicants are existing customers thenany customer will be able ask the staff member to retrieve their ownapplication details (and only their own).

The primary applicant will have provided the joint applicant(s) detailsduring the Gather Application Data milestone, which will link theapplication to the joint applicant(s). Any rules about how jointapplicant's data is presented or captured are specified in the GatherApplication Data milestone.

If any of the customers are new customers in a joint application, thenif the new customer is using the a staff channel to access theapplication then scenario 4 below will apply.

If there is still an open sales lead (as was generated in the Saveprocess), then it will be updated automatically once the application hasbeen completed.

-   -   Scenario 3—New Customers—Customer Channel (self service). As        previously mentioned, if a new to bank customer retrieves an        application, if that application had already initiated the        Validate Identity milestone before it was saved, then the        customer will not be able to amend any previously entered data        and will only be able to pick up the application from the point        of save onwards.

If the Validate Identity milestone has not been initiated, the customerwill be able to review and amend data previously entered before theapplication was saved.

If this is a joint application and all applicants are new customers,then any customer can retrieve their own application details (and onlytheir own) by the prescribed validation process and continue with theirown part of the application.

The primary applicant will have provided the joint applicant(s) detailsduring the Gather Application Data milestone, which will link theapplication to the joint applicant(s).

Any rules about how joint applicant's data is presented or captured arespecified in the Gather Application Data milestone.

If there is still an open sales lead (as was generated in the Saveprocess), then it will be updated automatically once the application hasbeen completed.

There are certain systems that may have limitations as far as theproposed joint account opening process is concerned (e.g., CoreBanking)—e.g., sole account first then appending the secondary profile.An option may be provided to open the account only after data isgathered for all applicants in a joint relationship. In the meantime acustomer record for the prospect/new customer can be opened for allparties, until such time that the process is complete, at which time thejoint account should be opened, along with each customer profile. Anaccount number will be displayed where configured by the entity.

-   -   Scenario 4—New Customers—Staff Channel. The functionality        described here relates to a customer-facing staff maintenance        function rather than the back office staff maintenance        functions. If a new customer contacts a staff channel to        retrieve the application, the staff member will attempt to        locate the application by using the application search        functionality, as described in scenario 2.

Depending on the profile creation for new customers, there may or maynot be an existing customer record for the new customer at this stage,so it may or may not be possible for the staff member to perform acustomer profile search.

Any potential matches found in the application search will be presentedto the staff member to aid in further establishing which one is for thecorrect customer and the correct application. Additional validationchecks may be performed at this stage.

The staff member will be given the option to select an application fromthe search results, which will result in the application being opened atthe point where it was saved.

As previously mentioned, if the application retrieved is for a new tobank customer, if that application had already initiated the ValidateIdentity milestone before it was saved, then the staff member will notbe able to amend any previously entered data and will only be able topick up the application from the point of save onwards.

If the Validate Identity milestone has not been initiated, the staffmember will be able to review and amend data previously entered beforethe application was saved. The staff member will then be able to satisfythe Validate Identity milestone for the staff channel, if the customercan meet the requirements, even if the application was started in adifferent channel.

If this is a joint application and all applicants are new customers,then any customer can ask the staff member to retrieve their ownapplication details (and only their own) by the prescribed validationprocess and continue with their own part of the application.

The primary applicant will have provided the joint applicant(s) detailsduring the Gather Application Data milestone, which will link theapplication to the joint applicant(s).

Any rules about how joint applicant's data is presented or captured arecovered in the Gather Application Data milestone.

During this process the staff member will be have the ability to see thedetails of all applicants that are linked to the application, althoughwill not disclose this information to the customer they are currentlydealing with, depending on local data protection regulations.

This is part of how the user experience will be set up by the localentity.

If there is still an open sales lead (as was generated in the Saveprocess), then it will be updated automatically once the application hasbeen completed.

-   -   Turn On/Off Save Option. Not all entities around the group may        wish to allow the user (customer or staff) to have the Save        functionality. An entity can configure the save option at        channel level as well as entity level. Preferably, the system        provides a Business customizable option to add the Save option        to the presentation layer as deemed appropriate. However, in        some embodiments, the Retrieve functionality will always exist,        as any applications that have been saved either intentionally or        by the “save in place” method described below, could at some        point need retrieving for further action.    -   “Save in Place”. In addition to giving the physical option for a        user to save an application at appropriate points, that the        system itself may save application information during the course        of the account opening process. Information may be saved field        by field, data grouping by data grouping. or page by page,        according to system design.

System saves mean that if anything untoward happens during theapplication process (e.g., a system crash), some of the data enteredwill already be on file. In addition to personal data, the system mayalso store milestone information, user information (e.g., for a staffuser, store their User ID), date and timestamp, etc.

This could also be the case where an interaction with a third partysystem fails (e.g., a third party system might be down when the systemsends a request to it). Where there is, for example, a system failure(e.g., as part of AO), provided there is a defined set of data known atthat stage, a lead should still be created and the application saved.

If a milestone cannot complete because it cannot get the informationfrom a third party system, the user (customer or staff member) is stillallowed to continue with the application, but the particular milestonewhere the failure occurs (e.g., validate identity, decision, fulfilment,etc.) may be held in a pending status until the third party system canbe accessed. Overall the application will also remain pended by default,as at least one of the milestones will be pending.

Ideally, if the customer is already identified and an e-mail address isheld for them, if there is an untoward occurrence of this nature, thenthe application identifier and details on how to retrieve theapplication for continuance will be emailed to the customer.

Similarly, if there was no e-mail address present but the customer'smailing address had been saved, then a follow up letter will be sent,again with the application identifier and details of how to retrieve theapplication for continuance.

In both of these scenarios, the Business preferably has a maintainableparameter that allows them to set the number of days that will elapsebefore a reminder communication is sent. This parameter could indicatethat an immediate communication is sent, as well as an elapsed timeperiod.

After this period has elapsed (or immediately), the system will check ifthere has been any further action taken on the application and willissue a request to the communications module to issue the follow upcommunication.

The content of the communication may be controlled by the local entitythrough the Communications module.

If a user abandons an application themselves, this could be accidentalor deliberate. If this happens, the user may be shown a message askingthem whether they meant to exit the application or not and, if not, thesystem will take the user back into the application.

If the user indicates they did mean to cancel, then the Business maydesire a mini survey to be presented, asking if the user would likeadditional assistance (e.g., have a staff member call them) and thereasons why they decided to abandon.

In cases where the user has abandoned and does not wish to continue withthe application, no follow-up communication is issued in relation to theapplication, although the data for the application may still be savedfor analysis purposes.

In addition, a sale lead is preferably generated for future follow-up.

The Save Application option may be available for customer selectionbased on entity configuration (business without IT intervention). Theconfiguration is made at the field level, where an entity decides whichfields must be completed (and validated correct) prior to the SaveApplication option becoming available. The eligibility criteria can beset for each product. All entered application data should be saved whena user selects “Save Application” (or similar). Partially completedpages will be saved providing that inputs pass both in-line and pagevalidation. When a user exits the application using an “exitapplication” button (or similar) there should be a check to determinewhether the application is in a position to be saved. There are twochecks that should be made sequentially:

-   -   Has the user completed “Save Application” eligibility        criteria?—In some embodiments, the save application option        becomes valid only when the user has correctly completed all        fields specified (by the entity for that product application) as        being essential prior to the save becoming available. If the        user has correctly completed these fields, a second check should        be made. If the user has not correctly completed these fields        then transport the user to an entity-defined destination page.        The assumption is that essential customer information for saving        an application has been collected and saved, either by the        system automatically or by the customer intentionally.    -   Has the user saved any data since last save?—The system now        checks to see whether the user has made any changes to any        fields since the last time the application was saved. If the        user has never saved and has also passed the eligibility        criteria or the user has made changes since the last save was        made, then the system should present the ability to save. If the        user has saved the application and has made no changes to the        application form then transport the user to an entity-defined        destination page.    -   Applications saved in this manner are preferably available for        retrieval through entity-defined question/responses that uses        data from the saved application.” will not use CAM to retrieve        applications i.e. essential information such as Tax ID number or        entity definable data fields. This is only applicable to new        customers. Wherever existing customers hold CAM credentials,        such credentials should be used. For existing customers who do        not have CAM credentials, they will be forced to create CAM        credentials. These scenarios are only applicable to the online        channel.

The system may also provide an Auto Save and Retrieve process (save inplace), wherein all data input is saved in real-time. The entity canconfigure (without IT intervention) which fields must be completed (andvalidated as correct) before retrieval is possible and the save optionis available to the user.

Applications saved in this manner may be available for retrieval throughan entity-defined question/response that uses data from the savedapplication. In some embodiments (e.g., for new customers/existingcustomers who do not hold CAM credentials) “save in place” may not useCAM to retrieve applications (e.g., essential information such as Tax IDnumber or entity definable data fields). However, wherever existingcustomers hold CAM credentials, such credentials should be used toretrieve the application.

Upon selection of the save option the user may be presented with areference number and also with instructions on how to retrieve theapplication.

There is no “save upon exit” process for Auto Save and Retrieve as theapplication is saved in real-time.

-   -   Rates and Fees. As a general rule, the rates and fees for a        product that are in place at the time an application is        submitted will apply. In other words there is no “rain-checking”        rates or fees that were in place at the time an application was        saved.

For instance, a customer may be attracted by a savings account interestrate offer they see on the interne and begin an application for anaccount. At some point during the application they decide to save andsuspend the application. At a later time, they decide to retrieve theapplication and open the account but the interest rate has changed. Theinterest rate that is in effect at the time the application is submittedand the account is activated is the interest rate they will be given andnot the interest rate in effect at the time they originally saved theapplication (if it was different). This will apply to any rates and feesthat any product attracts.

Certain exceptions may exist. For example, it may be that a marketingdepartment may wish to retrieve (without any service impacts) anypending applications for a certain product and contact all thoseapplicants who haven't returned to an application to complete it after aset period of time and offer them an introductory offer to entice themback to complete the application. This could be done by a technicalprocess to retrieve qualifying data from the application database so itcan be used in various fashions (dialer list, email list, etc.). Anentity should be able to configure the search criteria for retrievingapplications.

In this case, there will need to be the ability to retrieve groups ofsuch applications and record against them that the customer has beencontacted with an offer, with details of what the offer is and how longthe offer invitation applies for.

If a customer completes an application within this time period, then theoffer rate/fee will be applied to the account. An entity may wish tobulk offer customers who haven't completed applications they havesaved—that is, they may offer better rates/fees to entice the customerto come back and complete the application. Certain users (e.g., inmarketing/sales) would be allowed to choose a bulk set of incompleteapplications and rate/fee information to those applications (e.g., senda communication advising of the new rate/fee or a reminder that theoffer will be expiring), which may or may not have an introductory orexpiry period. If a customer comes back under this scenario, the offerrate and fee would have to be applied if the customer had completed theapplication in the time period the offer lasted for.

-   -   Application Ageing and Expiry. The Business has the ability to        schedule and configure when chaser/follow-up communications are        sent to a customer, where an application has been saved (either        intentionally using the save option or if it has happened behind        the scenes using auto save and retrieve) and the customer has        not returned to complete the application.

This involves integration with the Communications Module and requestsfor communication may be issued as and when required, based on how theBusiness has set up the chaser schedule.

As part of this, the Business has the ability to set a period in days(since application was saved) after which a pending application isconsidered expired, if the customer has not returned to complete theapplication during this time. For new-to-bank customers any CAMcredentials must become invalid upon expiration of all pendingapplications for that customer.

These parameters may be required at a product level, so that they can beset for all applications for the same product type.

If an application still remains pending at the expiry date, theapplication status is changed to cancelled. The customer profile may beupdated to reflect a cancelled application.

-   -   Application Archiving. The Business has the ability to set a        time period in days after which applications will be archived        from the account opening system and this information (if        required by an entity) can be displayed to a user. This is a        business maintainable parameter.

At the time of archival, the customer profile needs to be updated andrelevant information such as T&C elements may be stored, and other itemsrelating to profile and usage and even scores for validation engines,business risk, should be maintained—preferably on the customer profile.

In addition, for those who do not become customers, the Business maywant to keep applicant information for fraud monitoring purposes, etc.

The system provides the ability for retrieving archived applications incase of a future need for audit purposes, legal or compliance purposes.This may be a point in time re-creation of the application—that is, thedata exactly as it was when the application was archived regardless ofwhether any customer information has changed in the meantime. Whilstthere is no requirement for real-time retrieval, such information couldbe retrieved, for example, within 24 hours.

Pause and Resume

Similar to Save and Retrieve, Pause and Resume functionality may beapplied to any process and particularly those processes that involvestaff interaction (e.g., entitlements check, decision fraudverification). Pause and Resume may be useful, for example, for anaddress or business details change for a commercial account that wouldrequire additional verification by a Relationship Manager, or follow-upcontact based on an online interaction with a Financial Planningsimulator.

In some embodiments, the high level process flow for this functioninvolves the following components: Front End (to capture the requesteither in staff or online channel), Entitlements (for the authorizationrequirements needed to approve a details change or authenticate theuser), CPS (for the Business Process flow and state management of therequest), QMS (for the staff work item routed to the appropriate RM orsales staff), and in some cases Decision Engine DFS (if Fraud checks arerequired) and/or Communications (if additional notifications to thecustomer are required).

One exemplary Pause and Resume process flow could be as follows: Processbegins/FE data capture (Pause); Entitlements check (Resume); DecisionFraud Verification (Pause); CPS/QMS route to staff for approval(Resume).

Activate Account

This section describes the activating of an account, once the rest ofthe account opening process is completed. There is a distinction that ismade herein between booking (opening) and activating an account.

For some entities, an account may be opened but may not activated untilall the steps involved in satisfying the account opening criteria aremet. For example, a credit card account may be opened but is notactivated until the customer received the card and takes an action toactivate it (e.g., phones a call center). However, not all entities maybe able to have this two stage process for opening and activatingaccounts due to system limitations and an account is active as soon asit is opened.

Therefore, the Business preferably has flexibility to allow for bothoptions, which means that in entities with a one stage process, theaccount cannot be opened until all milestones have reached a successfulpoint. This does not necessarily mean that they have completedsuccessfully, but the item outstanding may not be sufficient to stop theaccount from being opened. For example, in the U.S., some of the productoptions, such as instance interne or telephone banking credentials,cannot be configured until after the account is opened.

For entities that allow activation at a later time to the opening of theaccount, the account can be opened before all milestones are completedbut the account cannot become active until all milestones have reached asuccessful point. For instance, an account may be considered opened atthe end of a customer's online application but may not be activated ifthey still have an off-line action to complete (e.g., the submission ofa wet signature, which may be required for local regulatory compliance).

By allocating a status to an application, the system may determine whenan account can be opened, activated or both.

The Business has the flexibility to set rules that the system can use todetermine when an account can be opened, activated or both, depending onthe statuses of the milestones.

-   -   Application Status. The account opening system will need to        manage the status of an application.

In some embodiments, at the highest level there are four applicationstatuses that may apply to any application. These are: Approved,Pending, Cancelled or Declined

Approved and Declined are self explanatory. Pending refers to all theapplications where at a given point in time, there are milestonesoutstanding that are required to complete before a final outcome of anapplication can be determined.

Below these application statuses, there are the milestone level statuseswhich are the statuses assigned to the various milestones within anapplication.

The system preferably tracks all eight milestones and change theirstatuses accordingly during the application lifecycle, as milestones areinitiated, progressed, and completed. For instance, the system could beawaiting the funding milestone to complete, but could also be awaitingthe terms and conditions milestone to complete.

Users have the ability to manually update the milestone statuses as theapplication progresses.

In some embodiments, each milestone has one of four statuses: NotStarted, In Progress, Completed or Failed.

In some embodiments, the joint first applicant is able to retrieve anapplication and view the status of each joint applicant party in thejoint application process (but not the data related to the jointapplicants). This is also applicable to CMB.

The Business has the flexibility to set rules based on product type,channel and customer type that will determine when an account can beopened, activated or both, depending on the combination of the eightmilestone statuses. For instance, it may be possible to activate anaccount only if all milestones are in the Complete status or someentities (e.g., as in the U.S. example given previously), may allow anaccount to be opened and activated whilst Configure Product is still inprogress (so that interne banking and telephone banking can be doneafter the account is activated).

For entities that allow the two stage opening and activating of theaccount this flexibility will allow them to set which milestonesstatuses have to be achieved to allow an account to be opened and whichstatuses then have to be achieved to allow activation to follow.

In some embodiments, the system provides an Application in Progresstracker. Existing customers (including newly created customers) withproduct applications in progress are presented the status of theapplications/products when they log on. In the event that one productwithin an application has been opened successfully the user sees theproducts within the application that are still in progress.

-   -   Approving Applications. To illustrate this process, two example        scenarios are provided in which two different entities are        approving applications. These are just two of many possible        combinations.    -   Example Scenario 1—Entity A, One Stage Open and Activate Account        Process. Entity A has a system limitation that means that an        account has to be opened and activated in the same stage.        However, they do not require all milestones to be in the        Complete status in order for the account to be opened and        activated. By allowing them to set the rules for when an account        can be opened based on the milestone statuses, this will be        possible. So a potential set of rules for Entity A might be, in        order to open and activate an account, as shown in Table 5.

TABLE 5 Status required to Status required to Milestone Open AccountActivate Account Gather Application Must be Completed Must be CompletedData Product Selection Must be Completed Must be Completed ConfigureProduct Can be Not Started Can be Not Started or In Progress or InProgress Funding Can be In Progress, Can be In Progress, Completed orFailed Completed or Failed Validate Identity Must be Completed Must beCompleted Decision Must be Completed Must be Completed Terms and Must beCompleted Must be Completed Conditions Fulfilment Can be Not Started,Can be Not Started, In Progress, In Progress, Completed or FailedCompleted or Failed

This is only an example, not a prescribed set of rules. These rules aredefined by the entity. Entity A will have had the ability to set up theabove rules, which the system would then use to determine when anaccount could be activated. As Entity A is running a one stage open andactivate process, the rules for opening the account and activating theaccount are the same. Entity A's business practices and systemlimitations means that Configure Product, Funding and Fulfilmentmilestones do not have to have completed in order to open and activatethe account, and can be completed after the event. Funding or Fulfilmentcan even have failed and the account could still be opened andactivated, as they are not dependencies on being able to open an account(for instance if the customer provided another account to fund fromwhich had insufficient funds for the funding request, the account couldstill be activated and Entity A would just inform the customer that thefunding had failed and request further funding details). The entity cancontrol when the account opening system would attempt to create andactivate the account on their back-end system by setting these rules.

-   -   Example Scenario 2—Entity B, Two Stage Open and Activate Account        Process. Entity B has an entirely different way of handling the        opening and activating of accounts and allowed an account to be        opened but not activated. They may wish to set up the rules        entirely differently from Entity A. As Entity B is running a two        stage open and activate account process, there is no reliance on        the rules for opening the account to be the same as the rules        for the activation. Hence their rules may be as shown in Table        6.

TABLE 6 Status required to Status required to Milestone Open AccountActivate Account Gather Application Must be Completed Must be CompletedData Product Selection Must be Completed Must be Completed ConfigureProduct Must be Completed Must be Completed Funding Can be In Progress,Can be In Progress, Completed or Failed Completed or Failed ValidateIdentity Must be Completed Must be Completed Decision Must be CompletedMust be Completed Terms and Can be In Progress Must be CompletedConditions or Completed Fulfilment Can be Not Started, Must be CompletedIn Progress, Completed or Failed

So Entity B may have a different set of rules to Entity A for opening anaccount but also may have a different set of rules to activate anaccount than those to open an account. A set up like this allows theBusiness to control how and when they open and activate accounts, andgives maximum flexibility in how they run their account opening process.

These are just two examples of potentially many rules combinations thatdifferent entities may wish to employ.

-   -   Declining Applications. The previous two examples described the        “happy paths” of two processes for Entities A and B, where if        the rules shown are met, the applications are approved and the        accounts are ultimately activated. Naturally not all        applications will follow a “happy path” and applications may        also be declined or pended while awaiting action(s) to be        completed.

In the same way that the Business may set rules for approvingapplications and activating accounts, they may also set rules todetermine when an application will be declined. However, this is notlikely to be a combination of all eight milestones statuses, as onlycertain milestones will drive a decline decision, namely Terms andConditions, Validate Identity and Decision. In some embodiments, if anyof these three milestones have the status Failed, then an applicationwill be declined. However, these rules are set by the Business, so thismay not always be the case, or the Business may wish to add otherconditions that cause a decline to occur.

-   -   Pended Applications. In addition to approving and declining        applications, there will be occasions when an approval or        decline cannot take place because an action (or actions) needs        to be completed before a milestone can move to the status        required to cause an approval or decline based on the rules set        by the Business.

The system will still use the same set of rules as defined by theBusiness as mentioned in the Example Scenarios.

To illustrate this consider the rules in Example Scenario 1 for EntityA, shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7 Status required to Status required to Milestone Open AccountActivate Account Gather Application Must be Completed Must be CompletedData Product Selection Must be Completed Must be Completed ConfigureProduct Can be Not Started Can be Not Started or In Progress or InProgress Funding Can be In Progress, Can be In Progress, Completed orFailed Completed or Failed Validate Identity Must be Completed Must beCompleted Decision Must be Completed Must be Completed Terms and Must beCompleted Must be Completed Conditions Fulfilment Can be Not Started,Can be Not Started, In Progress, In Progress, Completed or FailedCompleted or Failed

As described previously, as Entity A has to open and activate theaccounts at the same time, the rules in both columns are the same.However, at any point in time after the application is started, if thecombination of rules listed above is not met, then the account will notbe opened or activated. As long as the relevant milestones that cause adecline have not failed, then at all other times the application wouldbe considered a pending application.

For instance, in this example, if the Terms and Conditions, the ValidateIdentity and Decision milestones were all Not Started or In Progress,based on the rules set by Entity A, the account could not be opened andactivated, so would be considered pending.

There are many other combinations where an application for Entity Acould not be opened and thus would be considered pended. The point isthat by allowing the Business the flexibility to set these rules, thesystem allows the Business to have complete control over whenapplications can be approved, declined, or pended.

-   -   Application Status Descriptors. In order for staff to be able to        progress or work on pended applications, it is important that it        is clear what the reasons for the pended status are (it might be        one reason or multiple reasons depending on how many milestones        have yet to complete).

Therefore within each milestone there are preferably reasons ordescriptors associated to the milestone when it is pending and wherethere is an action that is required.

The Business has the flexibility to be able to set up descriptors andassociate them to milestones to show when an action is required.

For instance, the Terms and Conditions milestone may be in progress, asthe terms and conditions have been presented to the customer. But anentity may have a legal requirement that the terms and conditions mustbe accepted with a wet signature. So when this milestone starts, themilestone status would be In Progress and not until the signed terms andconditions were received would a staff member be able to update thestatus to Completed (or Failed if they were not received).

In this case, the Business has the ability to add a descriptor to themilestone status, such as “Terms and Conditions awaited” (the actualtext of the descriptor will be Business maintainable), so that anyonewho queried why the application was pending would be able to telleasily.

This would apply to all milestones, as it is feasible and probable thata pending application has more than one milestone in a status that meansthe application is pending and hence there would be more than onedescriptor indicating why an application was pending.

So for instance, at the same time the terms and conditions were awaited,the validate identity and decision milestones might be In Progressbecause they are waiting on information (e.g., identity documents) fromthe customer. In this case each milestone would have a descriptor(Business defined) stating why it was pending, so more than one couldco-exist at the same time.

In addition, where the account opening system is referencing third partysystems (e.g., to validate identity, to get a credit score, etc.), whenthe third party system sends the information back there will often bereason codes, relevant information, reason for decisions, etc. in theresponse. To aid the staff member who wants to action the pendedapplication, for example, the third party information that comes back ispreferably associated to the related milestone and is available to thestaff member to understand the reason for the response from the thirdparty.

It may be that entities use their own referral reasoning systems. Theaccount opening system does not necessarily replace these systems; theymay co-exist, but account opening still provides its own queuingapplication out of the box.

Local entity practice may dictate the continued use of any local systemsin parallel with the account opening system.

Where possible, integration is required so that any local entity systemcan also pass their reason codes, descriptions, etc. back to the accountopening system to link to the related milestone.

-   -   Checking Application Status. A user may wish to check how an        application is progressing. The system provides the ability for        a user to query the application status.

For existing customers who are logged into internet banking with theircredentials, this is the same as in Save and Retrieve, Scenario 1, sothe customer will see the applications in progress through theirinternet banking session.

For new customers who have login credentials set up, they will be ableto log in and see the same application status checker. If a new customercannot log in, the status checker function will not be made available.

All staff will be able to see the status and entitlements will controlwhether they are able to do anything with the application other thanview it.

For all customers it may not be appropriate to show certain descriptors(e.g., referred for Fraud Check), so entitlements may control if theycan see the actual status or if a default term (e.g. “In Progress”) isshown.

In some embodiments, if the application is pending because a decision isawaited and there is a usual time frame where the decision might beexpected, then this time period is displayed to the customer. This canbe controlled by the entity when they are designing their customerexperiences, to ensure they include this information when relevant.

It is entity definable as to how long the application status (whenapproved) is displayed for. The same applies for a declined application.

-   -   Booking/Activating Accounts. As mentioned previously in this        section, the account opening system may support scenarios where        entities book and activate accounts in one step or in two        different steps.

In some embodiments, for those entities with the one stage process, theuser (customer or staff member) is able to see and use the accountimmediately (through internet banking, telephone banking, branches,etc.).

In some embodiments, for those entities with a two step process, once anaccount is booked, the user (customer or staff member) may be able tosee the account immediately (through internet banking, telephonebanking, branches, etc.), but the account cannot be used until such timeas it is activated.

Customer Relationship Management

This section describes generally the cross-sales requirements foraccount opening. There may be various points during an account openingprocess where the Business may wish to interact with the customer tooffer other products or services. These may be associated services, forexample a checkbook or overdraft protection on a checking account, orthey may be an entirely different product, for example, offering acredit card if the customer has opened a checking account. In additionthe Business may wish to set criteria that enable the system topre-approve customers for certain products, which can be offered duringany interaction with the customer.

This area of functionality may be developed in conjunction with SalesSolutions. Abilities the Business may utilize from the Sales Solutionside include ability to determine which products and product options areappropriate for cross sale, by customer type, customer segment, etc.;ability to facilitate real-time calculations to determine if a competingproduct suits the customer needs better than the one selected (e.g.,line of credit instead of overdraft); and ability to identify andpresent appropriate cross-sell, up-sell and down-sell opportunities.

-   -   Pre-Sales. Pre-sales covers all the activities that can take        place in the sales process before the customer has decided to        purchase a product. This includes things like product        calculators, comparators, etc. These types of items may be        developed by Sales Solutions, and used as plug-ins to the        account opening process. If a customer uses such a plug in, they        will be able to navigate directly to the relevant product        application from the plug in function and any relevant data they        entered into the plug-in will be carried across into the product        application.    -   Cross Sell/Up-Sell/Down-Sell. The system is flexible enough so        that it can determine, based on configurable business rules,        appropriate products for the customer based on the data it has        available at the time.

In some embodiments, analysis of the data and the determining of whichproducts can be offered (i.e. the rules), may fall under the scope ofthe Sales Solution team. However, the account opening system preferablyinteracts with the Sales Solution decisioning at various points in aproduct application process. The system may, for example, send a requestto the Sales Solution decisioning function to determine additional oralternative products and receive the details back to present to thecustomer.

The points at where this may take place should be flexible as someBusiness sites may wish to cross-sell at the start of an applicationprocess and some may wish to cross sell later in the applicationprocess.

The flexibility for the Business to determine where they would like touse these “hooks” allows the Business to use the “test and learn”tactics, which may help optimize the sales process and increaseconversions.

When the customer chooses to apply for an additional or alternativeproduct, which may be in addition to or instead of the original product,the system asks for only the additional data required to open the newproduct. Fields that are consistent between the application for theoriginal product and the application for the new product should not bepresented to the customer. The additional fields can either be presentedon a single page or on multiple pages.

The entity has the ability to define without IT intervention the numberof additional and alternate offers that are presented for each product.In some embodiments, the default number is zero.

-   -   Customer Contact History. In some embodiments, during the        account opening process, any contact with a customer is recorded        in a customer contact history function. This record may include,        for example, information about date and time of contact, channel        used (e.g., internet, call center, branch), reason for contact,        and notes related to the contact. This function may also exist        outside of account opening.

Some of these connections may take place via the Communications Module,which receives requests from the account opening system to send outcustomer communication at various integration points.

In some embodiments, any activity related to customer contact duringaccount opening is recorded including, for example, staff discussionswith customers.

In some embodiments, the system may also record automatically when anapplication status is allocated or changed by either a customer, memberof staff, or an automated system process or third party input along withnotes as to the reason why it has changed.

Whether this is considered as part of customer contact history or aseparate application history function depends on the system design.

-   -   Pricing. Pricing covers the consideration of how a product is        priced in relation to other factors. For example: Should the        bank offer better rates/lower fees if a customer has more        products with them? Do different customer segments invite        different product fees and charges? There are a number of        factors that can affect what price is offered to a customer for        any given product.

In some embodiments, the data that is captured in the account openingprocess, known data if it is an existing customer, and the product datamay all be fed into a decisioning engine (e.g., SMG3) to determine theappropriate pricing that will be offered.

-   -   Referral Program. In some embodiments, the account opening        system facilitates a customer referral and rewards program        (e.g., an existing customer can refer people to open accounts        with the bank and receive credit or reward for doing so).        Customers may be asked when they are opening an account if they        have been referred by someone else (and some way of uniquely        identifying that customer), so that when the account is        activated, the credit or reward on offer can be applied to the        correct, referring customer.    -   Campaign and Lead Tracking. The system provides the ability to        create an open lead after a logged on customer has selected a        campaign (e.g., Individual Solution/Generic Ad/Random Ad/CMS        campaign). After the customer has clicked on the campaign, a        message may be sent to the host system to create an open lead.

In some embodiments, the open lead entails the following: CRMS “resulttype” confirms that customer has expressed interest in this product; theopen lead record deactivates Individual Solutions for this product; andnew lead is routed according to entity configuration (business withoutIT intervention) for that specific product (e.g., branch, RM).

The system provides two options to close campaign leads: manual andautomatic.

In some embodiments, the system also provides the ability to updateleads. In other words, the system will update a newly created lead atany stage of the customer journey as defined by the entity such as thefollowing:

-   -   Selected any of the options presented in the page (‘Yes please’,        ‘No thanks’, ‘Tell me later’)    -   Selects the ‘Apply’ option in a product page    -   Selects to save a partially completed application form    -   Submits an application form online

The system may validate the new contact result type to ensure that thelead is only updated if the result type is different from the previousone (e.g., if the initial contact result type is “IS Response” while thesecond one is “Application Initiated”).

The system provides the ability to include the actual CAM level of thecustomer in the lead record whenever a lead is updated/created. Thiscustomer CAM level information may be used by the business users forcampaign tracking purposes.

The system may display appropriate actionable options on any page. Thefollowing are configurable by the entity (business without ITintervention):

-   -   Display different actionable options on any page    -   Display the actionable options horizontally or vertically    -   Decide on the number of options to be displayed on a specific        page (e.g. 3 options on Credit Card product page, 2 options on        Loans page)    -   Display the number of options and type of information required        for a specific option depending on the CAM level of the customer

In some embodiments, there may be multiple leads for the same producttype. A user can select to open more than one instance of a producttype. In this case there will be a unique lead for each instance of theproduct.

The entity may configure whether or not a lead is created for the secondapplicant (on the sole profile) as part of a joint application (as wellas on the first applicant).

The system provides for independent tracking of leads. Each leadgenerated from a multiproduct application is preferably availableindependently and is tracked independently. Each may contain a referenceto the application reference number. Rejected and dropped/skippedproducts may also be tracked. In addition, the entity can configurewhether appropriate checking (including white list, black list, watchlist) will be performed for each of the joint and primary and secondaryapplicants, authorized users, and guarantors.

Application Management

This section describes how product applications may be managed if theapplication is not able to complete in a straight through process and,hence, requires some manual intervention.

Account Opening preferably enables as many applications as possible tobe processed automatically and have the accounts booked immediately inthe back end account systems. However it may be that not every accountopening application may be opened automatically for a variety ofreasons, for example if the checking of third party credit bureau isunable to determine whether a customer is a good risk or not to thebank.

Therefore, where the system is unable to determine automatically whetherit can approve or decline a product application (e.g., if a signed copyof the Terms and Conditions was required and not received yet), there isa mechanism whereby the product application can be made available foraction by a member of staff.

Outstanding applications may be managed by milestone status, and staffmay review the outstanding applications and change application detailsand product/milestone level statuses based on their additional analysisand entitlements.

In some embodiments, a database may hold the details of applications,which can be manipulated by users. The manipulation may be done usingqueries that various users can run over the database, with locallyconfigurable pre-defined queries.

The creation of pre-defined queries is preferably entity configurable;some examples are:

-   -   Verification: Applications that have mismatch and/or missing        information,    -   Manual review: Applications that require judgmental underwriting    -   Fraud: Applications that are suspected of Fraud and require        verification prior to approval    -   Duplicate Review: applications where applicant may already have        maximum number of allowed credit cards (will vary by portfolio)    -   Error: Applications purposely have this status for reasons such        as sensitive name or special handling (Panic Policy)    -   Overridden Application: Applications that have been overridden        (rates and fees/decision)

The pre-defined queries may allow, for instance, a user to view onlyapplications with a certain milestone status, e.g. Terms and Conditionsin Progress (with a corresponding descriptor, e.g. terms and conditionsawaited), etc. and make changes to those milestone statuses as requiredto progress the application. The system may also allow searching onother criteria, relating for example to application or customer detailsdata.

In some embodiments, for staff, there may be entitlement restrictions asto which staff member has access to modify applications with a certaintype of status (e.g., only staff who are allowed to clear fraud checkscan modify the specific milestone of applications referred for theValidate Identity milestone). This may include entitlements that allowsome staff to view but not edit versus the ability to view and edit.Preferably, the entitlements options are Business configurable, so thatthe Business can set up and manage the entitlements themselves.

In some embodiments, customers are only able to view their ownapplications.

In some embodiments, the Business may be able to set up and savecommonly used queries to save staff time when using the system. However,staff may also be able to define and save any personal query they wish,which they can either make public for other users to use or can keepprivate for their own personal use.

When a list of query results is displayed, the user can select theproduct application they are interested in, which will then beautomatically displayed on screen to the user for further action.

The Business has the ability to attach flags to an application toimmediately indicate that an application requires urgent attention.

Returned query results may be sorted by date in descending order (e.g.,oldest application to appear at the top of the list). The filtering ofthe results should be business configurable. Flexibility is in place toallow users to filter the display of the query results.

Taking the Validate Identity milestone again as an example: If aValidate Identity check comes back and requires a fraud check (e.g.,customer address is not the same, customer comes up as deceased, etc.),then this item would require immediate attention by a staff member. Thisapplication should therefore be flagged as such, so that staff memberscould immediately filter on such items to see what requires their focus(similar to the functionality a Quality Center system provides).

In some embodiments, all the data fields are made available and theapplication can be configured by an administrative person and the userto include only the data items required in the query. Filter rules canthen be set up personally by a user and saved individually against theiruser profile or can be made available for wider public use. This allowsa user to pre-define and share commonly used filters.

Status assignments may be triggered by certain events which may or maynot be initiated by a user. Overall application status can be updateddynamically based on the outcome of the previous step.

As described previously, local entities may have their own existingsolution for handling pending applications. The local entities may stillwish to use their current systems to check the reasons for pending, butin order to progress the application the milestone status should beupdated in the account opening system. This may provide the opportunityfor an integration point between the account opening system and thelocal system (e.g., when cleared in local system, it may clearautomatically in the account opening system), which would be a localenhancement and not part of the core account opening system.

Data for the purpose of MI/Audit reporting can be retrieved/stored asapplications are assigned to status and/or acted upon, including statuschanges made by staff members, or automated or third party changes.

In some embodiments, staff users may add free-format notes to theapplication at any time while preventing users from modifying historicnotes. Notes should be entered, dated, user stamped and easily viewableby staff. The business preferably has the ability to define theprioritization of the notes to be displayed to the users (e.g., in casesof production issues when customers are inquiring on the application).

Entitled users may override the application/milestone status determinedby the application processing engine. Entities have the ability toconfigure the reason codes/description for override(s).

The system provides the capability for integration with other queuingsystems that exist within the entity.

Staff should be able view the application/milestone status history aspart of the application. If required, business can restrict users toview the decision/status history based on entitlements.

Once the user has selected an application from the query results listand finished working on an application, the system should automaticallydisplay the next available application form (there should be abackground refresh and the system should only display applications thatare not being worked on by another user) the query result list, whileproviding an option to return to the search list. Alternatively the usercan return to the original query results list and select an applicationfrom the list (again only available applications will be displayed).

Preferably, staff members have access to a summary detailing thestatuses of the various milestones, status for the overall application,and the application itself. Through the summary, the staff should thenbe able to have access to the various section of the application andmake changes to details/status as necessary via links, etc.

In some embodiments, the system may provide integration with thecustomer session where applicable. The system should not prompt forsearch if customer session has already been established. For example, ifa staff has been assisting a customer (via Call Center/Branch channel)with a previous query thereby already within an existing customersession, should the staff need to maintain/review the application(s)status(es), the system should display the application(s). If more thanone application has been found, the system should allow the staff toselect the intended application from the result list.

Preferably, the system prevents editing of an application that isaccessed by another user. In such a case, only read rights would bepermitted, with a status indicating that it is being worked oncurrently.

In some embodiments, there may be an entity configurable timeoutfunction (warning before the actual timeout where the user can continueor end the session) within the application management system.

Regarding searching for applications, the options for filtering aremaintainable by the Business, so that rules and queries can bepre-defined, personalized and saved to allow quicker searching. Forexample: Show all savings account applications between 1 Jan. 2011 and10 Jan. 2011 for new customers through the interne channel that areawaiting identification documentation to be submitted.

Searching preferably includes the ability to group search for customerswhere the same situation or rule applies (e.g., find all customers whofailed a certain milestone, find all customers who haven't respondedwith a certain time period, etc.).

In addition, the system provides the ability to take the same action ona group of people—for example, to send the same communication to thegroup, to re-run validation checks on the group of customers should thevalidation system have been down when they sent their applications, etc.This ability extends to bulk maintenances of the milestone statuses(e.g., find all customers who failed the validate identity milestone andupdate the milestone).

Customer Communications

This section describes customer communications within the accountopening process, including communication content and generation, as wellas all communication delivery to a customer including terms andconditions and disclosures. Customer communication is an important partof the overall account opening process.

In some embodiments, the system provides a centralized customercommunications module, also referred to as the Integrated CustomerCommunication Module (ICCM). The ICCM may comprise, for example, atemplate repository, document storage, and communication historystorage. In some embodiments, the ICCM draws on a separate contentsrepository. Where there are integration points with a specific milestonewhere customer communication is required, these are described in thesection for that milestone.

Preferably, ICCM functions as a single source for templates and contentfor merging communications to customers, provides straight throughprocessing of customer communication, and eliminates need for eachindividual system to develop its own communication solution.

ICCM handles the outbound communication to customers. In variousembodiments, it can: interface with various product/service systems ordata stores to receive communication requests and data input; renderdocument in pre-defined format in real-time or in batch; provide outputthat can be delivered through multiple delivery channels, includingInternet, E-mail, SMS, Phone (outbound dialler), Print, Fax, ATM, Kiosk,and Secure Messages, when required; store documents and communicationrecords with appropriate access controls; and enable customers toreceive communication in their language of choice, via their preferreddelivery channel(s), when they need it.

In some embodiments, ICCM can be considered as being composed of threemain segments: Communication Request Router, Template and DocumentManagement Tools, and User Interfaces. The Communication Request Routeraccepts communications requests from Bank systems and local systems androutes those requests to the appropriate channel for distribution.Requests may contain information regarding what documents are to besent, dynamic data required to generate new documents, document formats,and/or delivery channels and the data required by the delivery channels(if not provided, then ICCM retrieves it from appropriate systems). TheTemplate Management tool is used to create and maintain templates usedin generation of documents in formats needed by the channels. TheDocument Management tool is used in the creation and storage ofdocuments. User interfaces allow users to set and manage communication;access, retrieve and view documents; view communication history; andview metrics and run reports (may be provided by the work streamhandling metrics functionality).

FIG. 35 provides a simplified view of the main flow of the outboundcustomer communication processes.

In some embodiments, host systems such as HUB or processes such asAccount Opening (AO) may send individual communication requests or bulkcommunication requests in batch to ICCM. Requests may also be made bystaff or customer. In addition, ICCM may receive requests via CRM ActionQueue. The requests may be for new documents or existing documents or acombination of both. Sometimes, a previous communication may berequested again, to be sent either to the same address or additionaladdresses. For new documents, ICCM is provided the template IDs/criteriaand the processed data (dynamic data) to produce required documents. Thecommunication request also includes the delivery channels and theaddresses to which the communication is to be delivered. A feedtranslator converts the communication request and the data associatedwith it into a format understandable to ICCM. ICCM produces thedocuments by merging the templates, which contain static data, togetherwith the dynamic data provided by the requester and contents such aslogos, barcodes, etc. from a Contents repository.

The produced documents are stored in a permanent storage such asOnDemand. In addition, they are transformed into the required formatsand provided to the delivery channels via a communication link. Inregards to existing documents, they are retrieved from the storagerather than produced again, transformed into the required formats anddelivered. In order to enable performance monitoring, anticipation ofpotential problems and identification of opportunities for performanceimprovement, ICCM will record metrics data.

FIGS. 36 and 37 are exemplary process diagrams for Send NewCommunication (Straight Through Processing) and Create/Modify Templatefunctions. The AO process has the flexibility to easily updateinformation about templates (template ID) when changes are made to atemplate and the modified template is stored as a new version with a newID so that it may send the appropriate template ID to ICCM. The formatin which dynamic data is sent by the AO process to ICCM should also beflexible. AO should send this data in a format (e.g., in XML) so thatICCM is able to recognize each data element and merge it at the rightplaces. It should not be necessary to send the data in a predefinedspecific order as this reduces the flexibility to respond to changes.

ICCM is not a rules engine nor a workflow engine or CRM or a schedulerfor CRM Action Queue. ICCM may have one or more of the followinglimitations: Authentication and authorization may be handled by aseparate system; however, they are pre-requisites for accessing ICCM.ICCM will not store customer preferences (such as preferred channel ofcommunication). ICCM will not develop functionality such as audit trailor entitlements; rather it will use available functionality. Textreceived as part of the data from the requesting process/system (e.g.,transaction narratives in a statement) will not be translated to adifferent language by ICCM. Communication scheduling and follow up ispreferably performed by CRM. Consequently, CRM will cancel/overridepreviously issued communication requests before issuing the request toICCM.

In some embodiments, ICCM will not process data (e.g., calculations suchas determination of balance, ratios, etc. for each transaction or as ofa certain date) for the requesting process/system. It will be providedthe data to be merged in the template by the requesting process/system,the criteria for selecting the template and the content (like logos),the addresses to which the communication is to be sent, security levelof the communication, etc. ICCM will, however, calculate thetotals/sub-totals for a group of rows for a column.

Business configurable processes preferably ensure that more than onecommunication to the same recipient and address to be delivered by thesame method within a short time are not issued, and that they arecombined together into one before a request is made to ICCM. ICCM may ormay not have the ability to group multiple communications into one.

For joint (or CMB) applications the entity can define whether the firstapplicant only should be sent the advice, or whether additionalapplicants should also be sent the advice (e.g., FCAC disclosurerequirements for joint account holders in Canada).

The entity may also define whether an advice is issued to the customerwhen an application is saved. If enabled, the advice will preferablycontain the reference number of the application. This advice should bemade available via the customer's preferred delivery methods, includingpostal mail.

Where the customer has provided an incorrect email address in error andthe notification fails, the system may try and contact the customerusing another method (if details are held). For every email failure,there is preferably a ‘bounceback’ report to alert the entity to thefact that the email has failed (e.g., may be incorrect and needupdating).

In some embodiments, the AO process may utilize certain existingfunctionality in the communication module, including communicationmethods with customer (e.g., e-mail, PDF, fax, etc.) as well as businessmaintenance of document templates.

The entity can define whether a reminder communication is to be sent viathe customer's preferred method after a predetermined number of dayswhen a customer has saved an application and not returned to completethe application. The number of days after which reminders are issued isconfigurable by the entity at the product level (business without ITintervention). The reminder should contain the application referencenumber and other information necessary for customers to continue withthe application (e.g., link in reminder e-mail).

Terms and conditions for each product (as applicable) may be madeavailable to the customer via preferred delivery methods, includingpostal mail.

The system allows application details to be sent to the customer via thepreferred method (including postal mail) regardless of the decision atthe product level. Account numbers should be shown for approved andopened accounts, while the application reference number should beavailable where application contains product(s) that were rejected,pending, or referred.

Product details for cross-sell and up/down sell should also be madeavailable to customers via the preferred methods, including postal mail.

Contact history is preferably updated whenever a communication is sentto a customer.

-   -   Communication Requests. ICCM is able to receive outbound        customer communication requests from the various business        processes of Group, generate/retrieve necessary        documents/messages and deliver them as requested. Communication        may be requested by a business process such as Account Opening,        a Staff user, or a Customer user. Requested documents may be new        and have to be produced, or may existing and have to be        retrieved from storage (and if necessary reprinted).

Together with the communication request, the requesting process shouldprovide the following (but not limited to) information:

-   -   a. Template(s) (criteria for template selection or template IDs)        to be used for generating the communication    -   b. Entity for which the communication is to be sent    -   c. Channel(s) to be delivered to as well as addresses    -   d. Date and time for delivery    -   e. Despatch Code,        -   i. To be used by the print shop to indicate how the printed            communication is to be delivered, e.g., mail, courier,            recorded delivery, registered post, etc.        -   ii. Should be configurable at entity level    -   f. Security level of communication        -   i. For example:            -   1) Communication may be encrypted or not encrypted            -   2) Attached document in an email may require password                for opening it            -   3) Instead of attaching a document, the email may                contain a link        -   ii. How the security of communication is to be handled            should be specified by the Business Design team and may be            defined based on the Security Framework,    -   g. Data to enable selection of logos, etc. such as entity name,        customer type (Premier), etc.    -   h. Dynamic data that is to be merged with template's static        data. Examples of dynamic data include:        -   i. Customer Preferences (including but not limited to) from            the customer profile:            -   1) Language: For certain documents such as tax receipts                (W2 in U.S., T4 in Canada), they may only be in                country's official language(s)            -   2) Preferred channels; if no preference, default channel            -   3) Preferred format (including Braille, audio, etc.)        -   ii. Customer data (e.g., customer number, name, addresses            for communication)        -   iii. Product data (e.g., list of selected product options)            Several product attributes may be needed such as product,            sub-product, product type, and product brand. Example—credit            card, HSBC Cash or Fly, Platinum, HSBC Premier        -   iv. Arrangement data (e.g., account number and name,            maturity date and instructions for a term product)        -   v. Transaction data (e.g., interest applied to a loan            account, charges)    -   Communication Processing/Modes. ICCM can process the        communication requests in real time, at a later specified date        and time, or at a later date within a reasonable period for the        delivery channel (this “reasonable period” may be pre-defined by        the business).

The business can specify the duration/tolerance for each of the modes(e.g., “Real time” may not necessarily signify instantaneous, but ratherwithin the next X minutes maximum).

The requests can be processed in batch, including a batch of one. Thesecommunication modes will need to be provided by the requesting processas the business managing the process will know best the urgency ofcommunication. Preferably, the business can pre-define the mode/urgencyfor the different types of standard communication. If the actual modefor a particular communication is to be different from the pre-defined,a staff user would need to modify it for that communication.

In preferred embodiments, ICCM can merge one or more of the following:Static text in a template; Dynamic data received from requestingprocess; Marketing material from a content repository (e.g., Teamsite);and Other contents such as logos and product files that can be sent toprinter, storage and communication channels.

-   -   Communication Methods. Communications may be sent to the        customer at various stages throughout the account opening        process. The communication is preferably issued by the        customer's preferred method, if one is held. Where no customer        preference is held, each site preferably has the ability to set        a default method (or order of methods) of customer communication        from the available options.

In some embodiments, the communication methods include, but are notlimited to: Mail, E-mail, Secure Message (via interne), SMS messages,Phone (outbound dialer), Print/Download, Fax, ATM, Kiosk.

ICCM should be able to inform the print shops what inserts (if any) areto be included in any communication (e.g., advertising pamphlets,processed checks, etc.).

The communication may be issued in real-time or scheduled for productionin an overnight batch process.

If a duplicate copy or issue request of any communication is required,this is preferably easily accessible to the user. All communications maybe listed in the application profile so that they can be seen by theuser, with dates and content. When viewing communications to a customer,the user should be able to see communications relating to differentareas (e.g., Account Opening, Servicing etc.).

A communication may be issued through multiple channels at the same timeand to multiple recipients, if necessary.

The system provides the ability to re-send a communication to the samechannel as originally issued and extend the capability to include otherchannels at the same time.

ICCM can provide the delivery channels: (1) the rendered documents orthe documents retrieved from storage; and (2) customer preferences andother relevant information (received from the requesting process) inorder to enable delivery of documents (e.g., via preferred channels, tospecified addresses, in specified number of copies, with specified levelof security, and processing mode).

ICCM should be able to interface with any required group system orprocess (e.g., Account Opening module, CRM Action Queue, ContentRepository, Delivery channels) as well as many local and global back-endsystems. ICCM can handle common file formats including but not limitedto flat files, XML, MQ protocol, etc.

Preferably, ICCM has integration points between the end delivery systems(Dialogue, Iris, Kana, local systems) and the content repositorysolution to ensure that the delivery systems get what is needed in orderto produce the communication (e.g., HTML is needed for web and email,PDF needed for document display, 160 characters needed for SMS, etc.).In some cases, there may be limitations to the size of the communicationor number of documents that can be included in (e.g., a customer may notbe able to receive an email of more than 10 MB). Similarly, there may belimitations on the SMS text message size or the envelope size for mail.

In some embodiments, communication through multiple channels may berequired, and provided by the system. For example, it may be that aninstant communication is provided to an applicant in real-time (e.g., byemail), but the Bank is legally obligated to provide a follow-up viamail. This could occur for pending applications where additionalinformation is needed from the customer or for terms and conditions. Foranother example is in the U.S., where Cards statements are available tocustomers for review online in PDF versions even if paper copies aresent to a home address. This allows the customer to have an audit trailof their last 12 months of statements available to them even if they didnot select the paperless statements offering.

If more than one communication for the same recipient is identified andit is being delivered by the same method, the communications arepreferably grouped together into one communication, unless thecommunication is of a legal or compliance nature and a business ruledisallows this functionality.

Communications may also be grouped by legal entity where multiple legalentities exist in a country or region, and correct logos may be addedwhere required (e.g., direct versus premier versus CMB, etc).

Preferably, all communications issued are logged in a customer contacthistory function.

-   -   Communication Content. The system provides the Business with the        ability to create, preview, maintain, and delete communication        templates for different delivery channels, including the ability        to define what data items are included in the communication and        the source(s) of this data. This may include for instance, a        preview facility, so that when a template is created or changed,        the actual image of that template can be viewed in full to        ensure that the output is as intended.

The templates are customizable in any language the Business wishes touse and may allow more than one language in the same template (e.g.,address in Chinese, text in English). The templates provide the abilityto tailor content (e.g., logos, graphics, etc.). The templates can beretrieved on demand when a request is received from the account openingsystem. The templates are preferably easily searchable to preventduplicate templates from being created.

Available formats include, but are not limited to: PDF, HTML, plaintext, Braille, large fonts, and audio (for visually impaired). Thesystem provides the ability to store a template in one format (e.g.,Word, PDF, etc.), but be able to convert or display it in multipleformats (e.g., Word, PDF, HTML, etc.). In some embodiments, ICCM maysent the document to one or more engines in order to convert them intothe desired formats.

The data required to complete the communication may be retrieved fromthe underlying product or service system and integrated with thetemplate before the communication is issued.

ICCM is able to create documents from templates. Entitlements maycontrol who has access to create, maintain and delete communicationtemplates. Documents may be created by Staff, or Business process.Documents may, for example, be of free format; contain a combination ofstatic and dynamic data; contain only static data; contain contents suchas logos, marketing messages, barcodes, etc.

Where an application has been declined, entities can pre-define a numberof reasons for the decline, and may choose to include this reason in thedecision notification. Likewise where a application has been accepted,the notification can be configured to advise the customer of the nextsteps. An entity can decide whether a generic or a specific reason isdisplayed for the decline.

-   -   Templates. ICCM provides the ability to create, preview,        maintain and delete document templates for different delivery        channels and in languages that the Business uses.

Staff should be able to create, modify and deploy templates in real-timeand online and in reasonable time. In some embodiments, only staff userswith appropriate entitlements can create/modify/delete/deploy templates.Different templates may have different entitlements. For example, accessto free format letter templates or those where the static data can bemodified may have a more restricted access than those which cannot bechanged at all. Templates may also include those for free formatletters. There should be strict access control to free format lettertemplates.

With the preview facility, the staff user can view in full the actualimage of document that would be generated from the template in order toensure that the output is as intended before sending it to delivery.This is particularly useful when a template is created or modified aswell as when a staff user is modifying the template contents temporarilyfor a particular communication.

Templates are maintainable at region/country/entity level. Templatesshould be standard across countries to the extent possible. Preferably,differences should be to comply with external regulations rather thaninternal differences in the Group.

The system provides the ability to copy a template and modify copiedversion to create a similar but different template, as well as toversion the templates as they may evolve over time. Preferably, there isan entity-definable Change Management process to create/modify/deletetemplates. Templates should be easily searchable in order to preventduplicate templates from being created. Template names should be simpleand intuitive.

Templates are able to contain the following (but are not limited tothese examples):

-   -   a. Static data that cannot be changed    -   b. Static data that can be manually changed by a staff user    -   c. Space where a user can manually add data    -   d. Space where supplied dynamic data can be inserted    -   e. Default data which would be replaced if data is provided by        the calling process or used if data is not provided    -   f. Expandable areas which can be filled by dynamic data; if such        data is not supplied, the rendered document should not show        blank space. A template may contain such areas at multiple        places. E.g., different marketing messages may appear in a        composite statement at different places corresponding to the        products whose information is being shown. (A composite        statement in HUB provides portfolio summary and transaction        statements of the various accounts held by a customer).    -   g. Tables that may be repeated for unspecified number of times        in a document; the number of repetitions can vary from one        document to another

Templates have the ability to merge supplied dynamic data at thespecified locations, and can incorporate specified logos, graphics, etc.They can contain more than one language (e.g., address in French, textin Chinese), can handle single and double byte languages (e.g., Cyrilliccharacter sets, diacritics, etc.), and can handle languages such asArabic, which are read and written right to left. Templates can alsocomply with Islamic Finance requirements.

Templates can handle formatting of data, such as amounts and dates,based on country and language. They can also handle grouping of data andcalculation of totals, sub-totals, average, etc. by groups.

Templates can generate documents that include text, images and graphics,both colored and black and white. It is possible to highlight selectedtext (e.g., portion of a row, alternate rows or alternate narrativescovering more than one row). The rendered document can contain bar code(printable and includable in files such as PDF).

Users can, for example, use different types and sizes of fonts andformat the text (e.g., bold, italics, underlined, etc.). The rendereddocument should be printable on Multiple size stationery; Pre-printed orplain paper; One or both sides of the paper (single sided, duplex).

ICCM provides the ability to customize a template for a particularcommunication so that allowable part of its content can be modifieddepending upon the situation, without changing the original template.Templates are retrievable for modification on demand by a staff userwithin a process such as the Account Opening process.

A staff user may, for example, retrieve a template and modify/delete adefined part of its static data and/or add new data in defined areas init before submitting it to ICCM for processing. The original templateshould remain unchanged. The staff user should be able to write in thelocal language when modifying text for a particular communication. Onlystaff with appropriate entitlement should be able to customizetemplates. In the Audit Trail/Communication History, it may be indicatedthat the original template was customized for the particularcommunication and who customized it.

-   -   Document Repository. ICCM has the ability to store the        electronic documents generated by it in a central repository for        the entity. Local storage (e.g., in a staff's computer) and        physical storage are not supported. In preferred embodiments,        all documents produced by ICCM are stored. Only one copy per        version will be stored regardless of the number of times it is        delivered.

One of the main objectives of business is to minimize the cost ofdocument storage which could be achieved by not storing selecteddocuments. The benefit of not storing documents must be weighed againstthe cost of recreating documents that were not stored. Further, it maybe worthwhile to store the documents for a certain period of time incase they have to be re-sent. Therefore, cost efficiency may be bestachieved by specifying the retention period of the documents rather thannot storing the documents at all.

The electronic documents are preferably stored and indexed such thatthey are easily retrievable based upon specified criteria.

The maximum period for the storage of the documents and when to transferthe documents from primary to secondary storage should be determined atcountry level since regulations vary from country to country. However,in some embodiments, a minimum period of 7 years can be assumed.Furthermore, the requirement for maximum storage period may vary fromdocument to document. For example, some documents may need to bemaintained permanently, some others for the lifetime of the account.Therefore, ICCM should handle the maximum storage period at documentlevel.

-   -   Document Retrieval. ICCM has the ability to retrieve and provide        documents based upon specified criteria. If only a single        document meets the criteria, it will provide that document. If        several documents meet the criteria, it may, for example,        provide a list of the documents together with descriptive data        (e.g., document name, date, customer number, etc.) as well as        their hyperlinks so that the desired document may be selected        and retrieved.

Requests for document retrieval can be from a staff, a process, or acustomer. For a staff or customer, a user interface is provided for theuser to specify the document identity or search criteria as well as theformat in which the document is desired. In the case of search criteria,if multiple documents match the criteria, a list should be displayedfrom which the user can select the desired document.

A process should specify the document format and document identity orsearch criteria without a user interface. For STP, the process shouldspecify the exact document identity. In the case of search criteria,similar to the scenario of staff or customer, if multiple documentsmatch the criteria, a list should be displayed from which the user canselect the desired document. In this case, a user interface is providedto display the list and document.

-   -   Communication History. A record is preferably kept of each and        every communication that is issued to a customer through ICCM,        including date, time, channel, and content, and stored for a        length of time determined by the entity.

The history is preferably easily accessible by Business users in orderto help address any enquiries that may arise as a result of the issue ofthe communication and may also be visible to the customer as describedpreviously.

The history may be searched, for example by customer, communicationtype, channel issued and/or date issued, to allow the Business user tonarrow down the communication items they wish to view.

-   -   Communication Retrieval. ICCM has the ability to retrieve and        provide communication records based upon specified criteria. If        only a single communication record meets the criteria, it will        provide that record. If several communication records meet the        criteria, it may, for example, provide a list of the records        together with descriptive data (e.g., communication name, date,        customer number, etc.) as well as their hyperlinks so that the        desired communication record may be selected and retrieved.

Requests for communication record retrieval can be from a staff or aprocess or a customer. Customer history should be robust enough to allowmany users to access simultaneously. For example, branch and call centerstaff in multiple locations can access and perform look-ups on customercommunication history in a reasonable timeframe.

-   -   Triggers/Alerts. At various points during the application        process, there may be a need to automatically issue a        communication to a customer, based on a trigger event or alert.        The business may configure the events/actions that trigger        communications to the customer.

The account opening system may automatically raise a trigger or alert,based on an event that has taken place (e.g., when a milestone statuschanges), to the Communications Module, requesting that a communicationbe sent. For instance, if an application has been pending for a certainnumber of days, a chaser communication may be required, at various,pre-determined and repeated intervals. Another example is if thecustomer has indicated during the application that they will fund bycheck but the check hasn't arrived after a certain time period. This ispreferably an automated process (to send the communication request)initiated from the account opening system directly to the ICCM.

Thus, the Business also preferably has the ability to set up rulessurrounding when these triggers will occur, parameterized so they canchoose what type of communication will be sent when an event occurs(e.g., send after n days pending, send when an application statuschanges, etc.). This could apply to both outbound and inbound customercommunications. An example of an inbound scenario could be a situationin which a check to fund the account was awaited by the customer and itarrives—once the application status is updated to show the arrival ofthe check, an entity may want to automatically send a receipt orconfirmation.

In some embodiments, these types of triggers or alerts fall into threecategories:

-   -   Automated—Request automatically triggered, communication        automatically compiled and issued    -   Semi-Automated—Where a manual review process is required but        when completed, the communication is automatically triggered    -   Manual—where staff can choose to manually request, compile and        send a communication. In this case, there is a requirement to        have pre-built templates available to staff, which the staff can        modify in required before issuing

In addition, in some embodiments, a Virtual Agent program can bedeveloped in CPS in order to trigger customer communications based oncriteria for in-flight processes. For example, to trigger acommunication to all customers whose process status equals a particularvalue after a configurable number of days, CPS would run a periodic jobagainst the criteria and then assemble a batch request with all thequalifying customers and send it to the Communications component fordelivery.

Another example would be for CPS to evaluate any deposit accountapplication that requires funding in order to board the account and senda funding chaser email after 5 days in order to remind the customer tofund the account. CPS would run a periodic virtual agent (most likely ona daily basis) to gather all those customers who qualify and includethem in a batch file sent to the Communications component, along withthe customer's delivery address and preferred delivery channel details.The batch file may also contain other qualifying criteria for othercommunications for that day.

The Communications component can process these requests and compose anddeliver the communications to the customer. The process can repeataccordingly in an automated fashion as part of normal daily operations.

-   -   Cancelling a Communication. The system preferably provides the        ability to cancel a communication if it has been issued in error        (e.g., if a customer has been declined for an account in error        but it is then decided that they should have been approved).

There are may be two scenarios in this case, depending on whether thecommunication has been requested as an immediate real-time item orwhether it has been sent to a future batch process.

Where a communication has been requested real-time, it is unlikely thatthe communication can be stopped from being issued to a customer. Inthis situation, there is the ability to issue a follow-up communicationthat references the first, stating that the first was sent in error.

The management of the content of any communications (including thesefollow-up communications) may be managed within the communicationsmodule.

Where the communication has been sent to a future batch process (e.g.,overnight), it is possible to intercept this communication before it isissued. There are two ways this interception could occur. Firstly, theuser should be able to locate the communication against the applicationprofile and have the ability to cancel the communication before it isissued. Secondly, the system itself should be able to determine that itneeds to send the communication based on the last action taken on theapplication. For example, if a decline communication has been requestedbut later on the same day (but before the batch runs) for the sameapplication an approval communication was issued, the communicationmodule should automatically cancel the decline communication and issuethe approval communication instead.

The Business has the ability to set rules that link different types ofcommunication together, so that the communications module knows whichcommunication can be cancelled should a linked communication be issuedlater before the batch is processed.

-   -   Metrics. Metrics are preferably captured and stored for the        customer communication process, for example for: Process        Analysis; Performance Analysis; Cost Management; Service Level        Agreement (SLA) Management; and/or Capacity and Volume Planning.        Metrics can enable prediction of potential problems sufficiently        in advance to allow timely corrective action as well as for        identifying opportunities for improvement. The metrics should be        analyzed and their implications reported to appropriate        individuals at an appropriate frequency.

ICCM can report quantity of customer communications by date, channel(email, letter, SMS, etc.), and template ID. Regarding e-mail, ICCM canreport how many e-mails were delivered, bounced, opened, etc.

Management Information (MI)/Surveys

This section describes the MI Metrics, Audit, Logging and Surveyspecifications for account opening. The area of MI is important to theBusiness in helping to understand how the account opening process isworking and, how, by changing parameters in the process, effects may beseen in sales conversions, application abandonments, etc. Audit andlogging are related more to the historical data being captured inrelation to product applications. Surveys cover how data is reviewed tosee how the application process is working, be it customerquestionnaires or reasons for application abandonment.

Management Information provides the business with a single version ofthe truth through both a set of pre-developed out of the box corereports and the capability to access all logged data for ad-hoc dataanalysis. Core reports place the ability to drill through the data basedon a range of dimensions directly in the hands of the business tounderstand performance based on combinations of customer type, channeland journey. Importantly, core reports have the flexibility to integratenew data values without IT involvement. In some embodiments, ad-hoc dataanalysis harnesses Cognos tooling to support core reports by empoweringthe business users with access to all data.

Data Logging provides the collection and cleansing of the managementinformation from the other source components. Data logging includes bothclassic counts and also additional data required to provide a full endto end and multi channel view of the customer experience, marketingactivity and sales process. Critically the data logging design looks toprovide flexibility to log new ‘values’ against existing ‘attributes’ tomove with the configuration of other components with minimal ITinvolvement. For example an additional value of ATM in the attribute ofchannel can be collected and cleansed seamlessly without ITintervention.

An Event Emitter may provide a consistent and configurable vehicle forcapturing event data from various sources and ‘sending’ to variousdestination systems. This function is preferably business user managedthrough an appropriate GUI, enabling the business to actively managewhat data gets logged to where and when

Multiple journeys can be built side-by-side with variations such as testtreatments, page layouts, branding, journey length or page navigationelements. Using different journey IDs, configuration IDs, content IDs orCPS test treatment codes, variations in journeys can be tracked byMetrics in order to see what impact the variations had on end-to-endperformance. Differences in Journeys can be triggered by channel,product, proposition, country or other attributes or can be introducedrandomly in order to perform an A/B test with all else equal.

In some embodiments, within a customer journey, this data is logged andfed out of the account opening system, but the customer is nottransferred out of the customer journey at any stage.

In some embodiments, to allow complete flexibility of metrics analysisto the Business, all application related data is extracted for MIpurposes.

The Business has the ability to define, run, and store queries over thedata and extract the results into reports, so pre-defined reports do notnecessarily need to be created.

For example, when a mini survey has been the presented and the user hasselected to proceed, application form data will be saved for Staff Userretrieval. If a previous save exists, the save on mini survey willoverwrite/append to the existing save. No validation will take place.There will be no request to set up CAM credentials. There will be noemail sent to the customer. It should be noted that the survey ispresented based on entity specifications.

There are two distinct areas to consider in terms on the MI requirementsfor the account opening system, Non-Operational MI and Operational MI.

-   -   Non-Operational MI. In some embodiments, the areas covered by        Non-Operational MI are Sales Journey Tracking, Process Tracking,        and Customer-Level Tracking. In some embodiments, a tracking ID        provides the capability to generate and assign unique tracking        codes to various customer touch points and marketing efforts.        The tracking ID is captured at the customer contact and retained        throughout the subsequent journey to provide the business with        visibility into the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and        customer journeys. Tracking ID functionality preferably includes        a full database build and business interface to generate and        assign the unique tracking codes on an as needed basis, with no        IT involvement.    -   Sales Journey Tracking. This area covers the aggregating of        anonymous data related to journey tracking and trending. At this        level it is purely anonymous data relating to numbers passing        through and is not at an individual customer level.

Preferably, data is collected that shows how sales journeys progress,where they stop, conversion rates, time on page, etc. This is oftenreferred to as the “Sales Funnel”, where there are various stages of asales journey defined and where it is important to be able to track howmany people are entering and exiting each stage of the process. Trackingand collecting this data enables the Business to determine whichcustomer journeys produce the best sales results, supporting the “testand learn” capabilities of the system.

By using “promo-codes” the Business can also monitor marketing campaignsfor effectiveness and return on investment. A promo code can be enteredby both a customer and a user in the branch CSR. For the branch and callcenter channels, any MI/audit trail associated with that promo/accountopening should have a record of the user's name (e.g., picked upautomatically by the system).

In some embodiments, “promo-codes” are historically linked with anapplication called Web Trends, which can track things like wherecustomers are initially coming to the bank from (to determine how theyarrived), average time spent on a page, pages where abandonments occur,number of visitors, journeys made, how many convert to sales, etc.—i.e.,how people are using the system.

In some embodiments, the system provides a tagging capability for staffchannels as well, to track how staff channel interactions are performingagainst the traditional sales funnel.

The Business can view and interrogate this data in real-time, so thatthey can respond quickly and make changes, if they spot a potentialproblem area in a customer journey, allowing them to compare journeysagainst each other.

Data acquired can preferably break down the results by channel, producttype, customer type and milestone or component level.

In some embodiments, any “promo-code” type data that is captured (fromany channel) as part of this process is passed through the entireaccount opening process and is ultimately passed to the back-end hostsystems to be stored against any new account that is opened to allow forthe whole sales journey data to be tracked and be meaningful.

The “promo-code” may also drive certain product features, prices orattributes, which may impact the behavior of the application (e.g.,marketing campaigns may offer introductory pricing).

Information that may be important to the Business may include, but isnot limited to: volumes (hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/annually, pagevisits, landing page visits, originating pages (e.g., where navigatedfrom), by product/product group, by channel, by currency, by customertype, length of time in the application, length of time on a page,etc.).

The following are exemplary specific account opening metrics: SalesJourneys, Portlets Hit, Number of Applications pending/abandoned, Numberof Accounts opened/activated, Amount of applications requiring referral(and reasons for referral), Conversion Rates, Error Rates.

The following are more in-depth analytics functions that may, in someembodiments, require more in-depth analysis outside of the accountopening arena: Response rates/success of marketing campaigns,Profitability of opened accounts, Customer acquisition costs, Cost per$000 acquired, Milestone specific data, Account opening processing timeper account type.

-   -   Process Tracking. This area covers the data relating to process        management and improvement. This is data that can detail, for        example, average time for a milestone component to complete,        average time to move from one milestone component to another,        time it takes for an application to complete end-to-end, where        abandonments occur more frequently, etc.

This enables the Business to employ the “test and learn” tactics to seewhat effect changing the process has on these types of statistics and tohelp spot potential problems areas that need addressing. For instance,if a particular milestone or component within a milestone always takes along time to complete, the data could pinpoint this and the Businesscould think of a different approach, deploy it and compare if there isan improvement.

-   -   Customer-Level Tracking. This relates to the logging of key        events that the customer undertakes during the account opening        process.

In some embodiments, each time a customer completes a part of theprocess, this event is logged against their record so that the Businesscan see how an application to open an account progressed at anindividual customer level.

For example, Application Statuses that a customer journey passes throughmay be tracked and time-stamped when the changes in Application Statusoccur at the customer level.

If there were large number of abandonments at a particular part of theprocess, for example, this may indicate something wrong at that point,which may need addressing.

-   -   Operational MI. In some embodiments, the areas covered by        Operational MI are: Operational Performance, Operational        Management, Save and Retrieve, Audit and Compliance, and        Communications.    -   Operational Performance. This area covers data that is related        to short term performance statistics. These statistics may        relate, for example, to the performance of the queuing system        within the account opening system, by which applications can be        filtered by application status, so that staff can work through        and clear outstanding applications.

By milestone or task, data may be acquired that measures how theseapplications are progressed and cleared. Exemplary areas of interest forstatistics gathering may include, but are not limited to: Volumes ofapplications received in the queue that require action; Time taken toclear an action; Reasons applications are appearing in the queue (e.g.which application status, where in the process has the referral comefrom, etc.); Queue activity by individual staff members or bydepartment/team; Sales MI for individual staff members or bydepartment/team.

-   -   Operational Management. This area covers data that relates to        the hands-on, day-to-day operational and resource management        issues. This data may help the Business understand what        applications are hitting the queue, in order that the Operations        managers can ensure they have the right resource in the right        place at the right time.

In various embodiments, this may include:

-   -   Ability to query account opening queue data over different time        periods (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly, monthly)    -   Volumes being referred, reason for referral, and from which        milestone component the referral originated from    -   Data to track trends related to busiest times of day, busiest        teams, busiest staff    -   Ability to use data to determine if an area is deficient in        resource at any given time and allocate other resource to assist        (may involve giving temporary entitlements to staff to cover        areas they do not normally cover)    -   Ability to monitor Service Level Agreements to ensure that        applications are being cleared within the allotted timescales.    -   Ability to collect data that ties staff performance to sales        targets (performance management)    -   Ability to monitor the different types of product and report how        many products are being opened by channel, the propensity to        apply for certain products through certain channels, etc. This        is preferably at a system level, department level, agent level        and channel    -   Save and Retrieve. Preferably, information is collected that        shows how the save and retrieve functionality is being used.        This includes data showing how save and retrieve is being        utilized and accepted by customers.

In some embodiments data is collected that can be queried by Businessusers, in one or more of the following areas:

-   -   Volumes being saved (including number of times the same        application is saved)    -   Volumes being retrieved (including the number of time the same        application is retrieved)    -   How long elapses between the save and retrieve stages    -   How many applications remain uncompleted after a retrieve has        been completed    -   Number of saves per each milestone component (maybe if a couple        of components showed a large number of saves it might point to        an issue with the component)    -   Data of saves/retrieves by customer type, product type, channel    -   Data related to channel switches between the save and the        retrieve stages (e.g. saved on internet, retrieved through call        center, etc.)    -   Data related to application aging    -   Audit and Compliance. In some embodiments, an audit may be        performed of applications received and details of actions that        have taken place during the application lifecycle. This should        be in line with audit requirements for existing account opening        systems and should contain all relevant information.

Audit and Compliance teams may not need instant and continuous access tothis type of data, but need to be able to pull it on demand whenrequired, so preferably this data is kept on an on-going basis.

-   -   Communication. In some embodiments, data related to the        Communications Module linked to the account opening system may        be tracked. This may include, for example: maintaining an audit        trail of a communication chain for follow up in case of issues        (history); data related to process, performance and cost (e.g.,        how long does it take to issue communication, how many issued by        each method, cost per method of communication, etc.); and        monitoring of Service Level Agreements in terms of how quickly        communication is issued against the targets. The Business can        define and run queries specifically related to communication        data.    -   Surveys. Surveys in this context refer to analysis the Business        may wish to carry out in relation to the application process        itself, rather than any analysis of other MI or metrics. These        may include, for example, customer satisfaction and        recommendation surveys. Such information may enable the Business        to understand the application process to see if it can be        improved upon.

A survey building function may or may not part of the account openingsystem. Either way, the Business can build surveys outside of accountopening, which can then be “plugged” into the process at the point theBusiness wishes to place it. In some embodiments, this type of survey isplaced at the end of an application process so as not to distract thecustomer away from opening the account.

Some examples of the type of survey the Business may wish to use are:Application Abandonment Surveys—what are the reasons applications beingabandoned?; and Post Application Surveys—consulting the customer toappraise the account opening process.

However, with the ability to plug in surveys built outside of theaccount opening system, any customizable survey could be added asrequired, as long as data from the application can be passed into thesurvey (e.g., promo-code, application ID, product type, etc.).

Where surveys are included in the account opening process, all the datarelated to the survey is preferably stored and available to the Businessto define, run, and store queries to drive reporting.

This data is preferably captured at an individual customer level, sothat there is a direct link to applicants for any potential follow up,but may also allow aggregation to understand trends by customer type,product, channel, etc.

For example, if a customer provides comments (good or bad) about theprocess and is happy for the bank to contact them to discuss further,details may be captured at the individual level to allow this to happen.As a by-product, this process will also capture customer type, product,and channel information thus allowing trending analysis.

This data allows in depth analysis of the application process to seewhere improvement might be made. In addition, with the flexibility ofthe system and milestone components, the Business can easily test newscenarios based on the feedback of such surveys.

Queuing and Work Presentment

Queuing and Work Presentment empowers frontline staff to be able to viewand manage the status of a service request even if it is being fulfilledin another part of the world. The organization is thus enabled tosegment and serve customers according to a defined segmentation strategyby utilizing country-level customer and product segments. Regionalpractitioners can add/maintain/delete work queues with minimal ITengagement. Local and global users can resolve, fail, close, pend,prioritize, update, sort, transfer, assign, age or assign reason codesto work items.

The Queuing and Work Presentment component provides the capabilities forqueuing and manual processing of work managed by back-office staff whoaccess the queues and resolve the work items. The invention provides theability for local frontline staff to manage and resolve processexceptions within a global system.

Manual processes can be standardized across the Group (e.g., loweringoverall costs) and managed in centers of excellence. This can, forexample, reduce the need for highly skilled or specialized staff toperform certain tasks and allow for measurement of processes and resultsthat can then be tested and optimized via removal and/or re-engineering.Further, centers of excellence can monitor and manage workflow,efficiency and quality by utilizing various operational reports such asactivity reports, hourly queue volume reports and location/unit activityreports.

Add/maintain/delete work queues maintenance is preferably completed bypractitioners with minimal IT engagement. Examples include:

-   -   Reason Code Configuration—Ability to create/define response to        reason codes (e.g. create work items whenever reason code 123 is        triggered)    -   Resolution Code Configuration—Ability to create/define        resolution codes    -   Trigger work items during the journey—Ability to trigger work        items during the journey and create them in QMS once the journey        is completed and submitted    -   Work Item Maintenance—Ability to resolve, fail, close, pend,        prioritize, update, sort, transfer, assign, age or assign reason        codes to work items. Users can also enter work item notes.    -   Configure work item priority—Ability to assign a priority to a        work item. Ability to define interdependency among work items so        that an unfinished critical work item prevents other work items        from being pushed to staff until complete.    -   View Work Item List—Work Item list can be viewed from Staff        Dashboard, App Maintenance page and App Overview page. List can        be sorted by the column headers.    -   Work Item Search—Ability for user to search for work items.        Search results can be sorted, include pagination and provide the        ability to select work item from the results. Search        criteria—associated applicant's first and last name, Application        ID, Work Item ID    -   View work item detail—Ability to view work items details,        regardless of status and user entitlements. Details included:        Work Item ID, Associated application ID, Queue name, Product,        Priority of the work item, Urgency level, Associated reason code        and description, Existing user action history/comments,        Date/time last modified    -   Work item duplicate check—Duplicate check to ensure that the        same work item triggered by the same service/reason is not        triggered more than once for an applicant.

The Queuing and Work Presentment component includes a maintenance toolto provide the ability for staff to resolve, edit or ‘work’ in-flightapplications or process flow items that require human intervention, suchas:

-   -   Application Overview—Consolidation of application maintenance,        Queuing, and application history into an “Application Overview”        page that presents all the details of an application    -   Maintain Application Data—Ability to maintain Account Opening        (AO) application data, including Material Data (organized by        links), and save the changes made (Material Data is        entity-configurable)    -   Maintain Application Step Status—Ability to maintain application        step status on a per product by applicant basis (Validate        Identity and T&C only)    -   Maintain Decision Status—Ability to maintain product decision        status (to denied)    -   Cancel Product—Ability to cancel a product within an application    -   Cancel Application—Ability to cancel an application (by        canceling all products individually within that application)    -   Application Search—The ability to search within both Application        Search and QMS for multiple search criteria. Users can show/hide        search results, view applicant lists, view application lists or        create new applications from the search page. Application Search        also includes the ability to perform wildcard searches.    -   View Application History—Ability to capture systemically and        view all captured Application History    -   View Application Notes—Ability to view and capture Application        Notes (but not maintain after capture)    -   Attach Document ID—Ability to attach one or more document        identifiers (Document ID) to the application    -   Disable Communications—Ability to enable/disable communications        on a per applicant basis    -   Add applicants—Ability to begin an un-started journey for        additional applicants in a multi-applicant application    -   Resume a saved journey—Ability to continue a saved user journey    -   View To-Dos—Ability to view To-Do items for an AO application

Queuing and Work Presentment also provides local data capabilities,manual processing, document attachment and reporting. These capabilitiesinclude:

-   -   View local entity data/scores—Ability to support storage of        local entity data such as credit bureau scores (Entity to define        how the data may be re-used e.g. in a re-decision)    -   Display local entity data—Ability to display the local entity        data is supported in Application Maintenance (Entity work        required to define the display formatting)    -   Time zone recognition—Ability for QMS to record and present time        in entity's local time zone    -   Present Funding Status—Presentment of funding status in the        funding portlet    -   Connect documents to work items—Ability to associate applicant        documents to a work item.    -   Re-decisions—A re-decision can be triggered manually or        automatically when decision-related work items are resolved    -   Process Resuming—When all work items associated with a service        are resolved/closed/failed, the associated process/macro service        can be re-run automatically or automated process can be disabled        depending on the work item configuration.    -   Manual product denial—The ability to decline a product        automatically and close remaining work items where a critical        work item status has been changed to “failed”    -   QMS reporting—Real time operations reports will be provided:        Activity Report, Hourly Queue Volume Report, Location/Unit        Activity Report

Staff Facing Maintenance

Certain maintenance functions are part of the account opening process,which allow staff members to perform duties required to move the processforward. This section describes the back-office staff-facing maintenancefunctionality related to account opening, but does not consider anystaff maintenance functions outside of account opening or anymaintenance required post account activation.

-   -   Maintain Milestone Status/Application Details. This        functionality relates to the milestone status and the queues        that take referred product applications for staff to review.

The aim of account opening is that as many accounts as possible will beopened automatically, without the need for any staff intervention.However, as described previously, in some embodiments this is notpossible for all applications and so some may have to be referred tostaff members for manual action.

The staff members should be able to change the milestonestatus/application details in order that the application can beprogressed. For instance, if the application has been referred becausethe Validate Identity milestone is pending (e.g., for a fraud review),when the fraud review is complete, the staff member responsible maymaintain the status of the milestone that is awaiting this review totake place, so that its status can be changed to Completed or Failed.

Whenever a milestone status is updated, the system can automaticallyre-assess the milestone statuses that exist at that time to see if therules set by the Business now mean the application can be approved, isto be declined, or still has other milestones in a pending state thatstill require action.

In some embodiments, if the system assesses that the application can nowbe approved, the system will automatically submit the applicationdetails to the host system to open the account.

If it declined, the system may automatically issue a request for acommunication to be sent to the customer to the communications module,if the customer experience created specifies it.

If the application remains pending because there are other milestonesoutstanding, then there is no further action to take at this time, otherthan to clear the other milestones when possible.

Another example could be if a customer requests an application that iscancelled.

This ability to clear an application status may be required, forexample, if the status is ‘Awaiting T&C acceptance’ and the customeraccepts (e.g., they send in a signed copy of the T&C acceptance); thenthe entitled staff member should have the ability to mark this action ascleared.

The user also has the option to add free format notes to the applicationat any time.

Each status change may be logged, so that a date and time stamp and userdetails are recorded against each status change to allow tracking ofapplication time-scales and any areas where delays may be occurring.This data can feed into the MI and audit section.

In some embodiments, if there are not and the application is now ready,the system will trigger the next step of the account opening processautomatically.

In some embodiments, local entities may have their own existing solutionfor handling pending applications. The local entities may still wish touse their current systems to check the reasons for pending, but in orderto progress the application, the milestone status should be updated inthe account opening system.

This may provide the opportunity for an integration point between theaccount opening system and the local system (e.g., when cleared in localsystem, a milestone could clear automatically in the account openingsystem). In some embodiments, this could be a local enhancement and notpart of the core account opening system.

In various embodiments, staff can access/maintain all product(s) withinthe application by searching with a single reference number, and/ormaintain an overall Application status, as well as product-levelmilestone status(es)/details, as defined by the Business.

The level of access at which the user is allowed to maintain overallapplication status or milestone level status or application data may begoverned by the user's entitlements.

In certain embodiments, milestone status that is blank or ‘Not Started’can also be maintained by an entitled user.

In some embodiments, the system may provide an option to ‘Cancel’ apending application. ‘Cancel’ can be viewed as an overall applicationstatus.

In some embodiments, an application with a ‘Cancelled’ state can be‘reinstated’ within a grace period defined by the entity. During thisgrace period, all application details/milestone status should beretained to avoid re-inputting the application details should theapplication be reactivated.

In some embodiments, a ‘Cancelled’ application is only allowed to be‘reinstated’ within the grace period (entity definable) by a member ofstaff (not a customer). However, a record should be kept that anapplication has been attempted but cancelled.

When an entitled user performed an override of core elements like rates,the system optionally provides the ability for a notification to be sentto the supervisor of the override. The supervisor should also be enabledto perform a query for the types of overrides.

-   -   Maintain Milestone Statuses. An exemplary list of applicable        milestone statuses valid through the lifecycle of an application        is given above in connection with activating an account. There        may be occasions where this list needs revising to capture new        application statuses. In one or more preferred embodiments, the        Business has the ability to add new milestone statuses to this        list and have them immediately available in the system.    -   Maintain System Reference Data. Reference data refers to the        static items of data that the system requires in order to        complete certain tasks.

As used herein, any reference to Business maintainable parameters (e.g.to determine the expiry date of an application) refers to systemreference data.

The system provides the Business the ability to maintain any accountopening system reference data that may be used in the system. Thus, anystatic parameters that the system uses to drive account openingfunctionality may be editable by entitled Business users.

Entitlements

This section describes the entitlement (‘rights/limits’) considerationsfor account opening. Entitlements refers to the area of functionalitythat decides which users (customers, prospects, or staff) can accesswhich screens, information or functions. This allows control over theinformation that any user can access at any given time. Users movethrough ID&V (User ID, Password, Security Questions, etc.) and accessfunctions based on entitlements.

Entitlements reduces both risk and cost by consolidating access controlinto one global system. Entitlements can prevent fraud and data breach,and can enable role standardization across the organization. Together,Entitlements and ID&V create a framework to support the organization'scompliance with security, privacy, and/or data loss requirements, whilestill allowing users to access appropriate functionality.

The Business preferably has the ability to set and maintain entitlementsto functionality, for example by:

-   -   User    -   User type (staff or customer)    -   User group (maybe a certain team has access to certain        functionality)    -   User role (e.g. manager, team leader, etc.)    -   Product type (maybe only certain staff can sell and open certain        products e.g. licensed financial planning managers)    -   Channel    -   Customer group/segment    -   Field (maybe only certain staff or teams can action certain        referred application statuses e.g. fraud checks)

Within the staff members, there may also be the need to only allowaccess to certain functions to certain staff (e.g., someone releasingpayments should not be able to also complete the fraud checks due to thepotential audit implications).

In addition the system provides the ability to restrict the data thatmay be viewed as an application is progressed. For instance, in Mexico,as an application progresses it may be passed from department todepartment. In preferred embodiments, the system provides the ability toprevent staff in other departments from viewing the data or decisionsthat have gone before.

Considerations for entitlements may include, but are not limited to, oneor more of the following:

-   -   Permission to use certain functionality    -   Permission to access/view certain fields    -   User has edit or read only access    -   Different entitlements when deployed in different channels    -   Personal customers vs. CMB customers (maybe split even further,        e.g. Premier PFS vs. PFS)    -   Staff vs. Customer    -   Who will administer the access rights?    -   Classes/groups of user    -   Approval of transactions (dual authorization may be required).        Entities should have the ability to decide which functions are        dual and which are sole control.    -   Transaction Limits    -   Pricing Overrides (e.g. for certain entities, haggling about the        price is part of the account opening process)    -   Additional users outside of the Bank, such merchants, who may        require access    -   Restrict account opening based on product, channel, customer        type    -   Languages available for screen display    -   Ability to create, maintain and delete individual users, user        groups (e.g. department level) and roles (e.g. manager, team        leader, supervisor, etc.)    -   Ability to allocate users to user groups or roles    -   Ability to control rights management of individual users, user        groups or roles (e.g. read only or edit access)    -   Ability to run reports that detail who has access to what (at        User, User Group and Role levels), and audit reports detailing        when any changes to entitlements have been made    -   The ability to support or block data sharing across entities,        business units and countries, where allowed    -   Ability to restrict access to data and/or functionality by third        parties who are acting on behalf of the Bank (e.g. where a call        center is outsourced but to the customer, it appears to be Bank        staff)

General Entitlement System Capabilities include:

-   -   Security Policy Decisioning and Enforcement—This feature        enforces the user's entitlements and constraints at portal, page        and field level for staff and customers.    -   Obligation Enforcement (Data Masking, Truncation, Data        Replacement)—Enables entities to mask or obscure certain data        items depending on a staff member or customer's roles.    -   Union of Staff and Customer—This feature ensures both the        customers' and staff members' entitlements are enforced during        any staff on-behalf-of-customer action.    -   Dynamic Segregation of Duty—This feature prevents users        completing certain combinations of tasks that are open to        fraud—e.g. preventing the same user creating from creating and        authorizing a payment.    -   Role and Permission Based Access Control—Allows for both role        based control (where permissions are assigned to roles and roles        assigned to people) and permission based control (where        permissions are assigned directly to people).    -   Constraint Conflict Management—Manages conflicts where        permission with conflicting constraint value is being associated        with the user.    -   Service Level, Product Level and Arrangement Level Entitlement        Assignment Configuration—This feature enables entities to        configure which customer permissions should apply at service,        product and assignment (account) level.

Entitlements FE Admin/Servicing Screens provide generic FEscreens/portlets for any proposition for customer and staff to managecustomer entitlements (permissions and constraints/limits atrelationship and account level) and staff role constraints/limits. TheUser Interface is driven by underlying entitlement configuration whichsupports entity customization. The User Interface is configurable bybusiness. Entitlements capabilities may include, for example: Search,view, add and modify customer role access; Copy access from customerrole or user; Delete customer role; Multi authorization and signaturegroup set-up; Signature group assignment; Permission Assignment(Customer); Constraint Management (Staff and Customer).

Appointment Diaries

Some countries may optionally allow a user to book appointments onlinefor a customer to meet with staff, during the account opening process,where a follow-up action may be required. This is not limited to anappointment face-to-face, but could involve appointments for meeting byany channel where this facility exists.

The user (customer or staff member) may be given the option (or could beinstructed to if an appointment is mandatory for certain products)during an application to schedule an appointment for a customer to talkto a member of staff about their account opening application. This couldbe an appointment to further discuss details about the application or toprovide further documentation that is required to support theapplication and any regulations surrounding proof of identity.

In some embodiments, this functionality may use an interface from theaccount opening system to one or more local appointment booking systems,which allow the user to book an appointment in those systems as part ofthe application process.

The handling of that appointment after it is booked may then beperformed by the local system. There may or may not be management ofappointments (other than the initial scheduling) within the accountopening functionality.

The Business should have the flexibility to add this functionality tothe user experience wherever they require it, with the ability to moveit around if it proves it would be better in another part of the accountopening process.

Online Help

The account opening system is simple and intuitive to use, and the needfor user manuals is eliminated where possible. However, help support maybe needed, and so in some embodiments field context help is provided toease the application process as it is running. Context help can be onthree levels: page level, processes (portlets), level and field level.Field level may also include interactive components such as URLs andbuttons. Entities can also define different help text depending onchannel and/or field.

-   -   Context Sensitive Help. For certain pages, processes (portlets),        and data fields presented in the application, it may not always        be obvious what is expected of the user, or the user may have a        different interpretation of what is being asked. Context        sensitive help for data fields may also include selections        within groups of available options (e.g., drop down lists, radio        button groups, etc.), URL links, and buttons. Any help text is        preferably locally editable for language and experience needs.

The Business has the ability to define and deploy context sensitive helpthat will be displayed to the user as they are progressing through theapplication. This may include, for example, the maintaining of help text(creating, amending, deleting) and the ability to deploy any newlymaintained help text into the system within a Business maintainable,specified time period. This may not be required for every data field, sothe Business should also have the ability to choose which page processfields or selections this is required for. For example, when the usermoves the mouse over a page heading, sub heading field (field name orhelp icon after field) or selection, then the help text for that fieldmay be displayed immediately to the user.

-   -   Other Options. There may be other options available that are        provided outside of the account opening system that may also        allow for online help, which may in some embodiments be        leveraged in the customer experience for account opening. In        such cases, the account opening application form configuration        tool can pull them into the account opening screens. Exemplary        options in this category include: Click for Call Back; Click to        Chat (instant messenger chat); Contact Us; and Co-browsing        capability (e.g., a member of staff can allow a customer to        share their interne session with them in order to view the        application and guide them through the process).

Post Booking Review

In some cases, additional signoffs or reviews may be necessary based onthe customer's responses to certain questions. For example, if thecustomer's answers flag them as being SCC, a sign-off from Fraud orcompliance may be required following the account being booked. Thismeans the application will be put in a status to be worked by someselect area in the organization.

In addition, certain funding options may require the customer to performactions outside of the account opening process in order to fund. Inthese cases, actual funding may not be a requirement for the milestoneto complete and the account to book—for example, the applicant saying acheck is in the mail may be good enough.

After the account books, the system provides the ability fornotifications to be set up in order to remind the customer to completethe funding portion of the application. The notification system shouldbe aware of whether or not the funding has occurred. For example, if thecustomer is online and decides to fund by mailing a check, the accountwould book with no initial funding and the customer would be responsiblefor sending in the check. In some embodiments, if the check is notreceived, a process using analytics may monitor recently booked accountsat $0 balance and trigger the communications module to send a reminder.The account opening system may or may not actively manage funding statusfor paper checks mailed in or direct deposit/payroll deposit.

AO Integration

-   -   Internet Banking Site(s). In some embodiments, the Account        Opening Process is an end-to-end process, with a single entry        point and a single exit point. Exemplary entry/exit points are        described in the user journey activity diagrams/use cases.

In some embodiments, the e-sales process within Account Opening is ageneric process that caters to applications (using the Web ApplicationBuilder) for PFS and CMB customers. The applications can be customizedto support Savings, Current, Term Deposits, Credit Cards, in varyingdegrees of STP. Local entities may need to tailor the e-sales process atthe time of implementation to suit local product types and integrationinto back-office.

For customers navigating via a Public website at CAM 0, the customer ispreferably re-directed to the Account Opening process based on theProduct selection—that is, if the underlying product selected issupported. In some embodiments, a Multiple Entry Points (MEPS) featureis supported for existing internet customers browsing at CAM 0 and thenmaking an application.

Single Click Buy: In some embodiments, within the drop down list for“Open New Account” or “Open New Term Deposit” (e.g., Single Click Buy),if there are any PFS products/currency in the local entity that cannotbe accommodated by the Account Opening process of the current invention,one or more existing account opening processes may continue. Similarly,within the drop down list for “Open New Term Deposit” (e.g., SingleClick Buy), if there are any CMB products/currency in the local entitythat cannot be accommodated by the Account Opening process of thecurrent invention, one or more existing account opening processes maycontinue. In addition, within the drop down list for “Open New Account”or “Open New Investment” (e.g., Single Click Buy), if there are anyAmanah products/currency in the local entity that cannot be accommodatedby the Account Opening process of the current invention, one or moreexisting account opening processes may continue.

Accounts that are “Opened and Activated” via the Account Opening Processmay be reported in a month-end overall MI report for the internetchannel.

-   -   Branch Channel. In some embodiments, HFE supports Account        Opening for Demand Deposits (Savings and Current Accounts).        Products/currencies/Customer Groups that are supported by the        Account opening process may use this function on HFE.    -   Call Center. Within the drop down list for “Open Account” (i.e.        Single Click Buy), if there are any Term Deposit        products/currency/customer group in the local entity that cannot        be accommodated by the Account Opening process of the current        invention, one or more existing account opening processes may        continue.

In some embodiments, certain predetermined Call Center applicationfunctions may also be used by branch users, in order to convergecapabilities onto a common Staff Channel infrastructure.

In Session Data

In preferred embodiments, the account opening system allows users topersonalize specific pages and allows Business to track informationrelated to authenticated and non-authenticated customers. This mayenhance the ability to cross sell through the Sales Tools/Modules (e.g.,SCM) in use. This feature may be available, for example, for InternetBanking customers (PFS and Retail CMB) as well as non-authenticatedusers that visit the Public Websites/brochureware sites.

Features may include, but are not limited to: Ability for a user tocustomize specific pages or account views (e.g., set default page,hide/show account information, brand my session); Update and maintainall relevant user session data; Ability to track existing and newcustomers who visit specified Bank website(s); Enhance Sales Tool toutilize stored data. Benefits of these features may include enhancedcustomer segmentation and reporting, increased cross and up sell, andenhanced customer experience.

Examples of in session data use include the following:

Unique key Generation. A first time user visits the website and browsestwo pages, Insurance and Credit Card. A unique key is generated and theinterest level of both the page is recorded in a domain cookie and adatabase. The unique key generated should remain the same every time acustomer visits the website from the same PC.

Identify and Retrieve from cookie. A CAM 0 user returns to the website.The customer is identified based on the unique identifier in stored inthe domain cookie and data history is retrieved to aid in displayingrelevant content.

Identify and Retrieve from DB. When a CAM 0 customer returns, the systemchecks for a domain cookie on the user's PC. If a domain cookie is notavailable, the system searches the database with the unique number andretrieves data about the user's page visits and any other information.The system then updates the domain cookie and the database cookie withthe latest information (e.g., page visits, personalization, profileinfo, etc).

Domain cookie exists. When a CAM 20/30 customer logs in, the systemchecks for a domain cookie on the user's PC. The system associates theunique ID with a Customer Identification Number/Business InternetBanking Identification Number (CIN/BIBID) and updates the domain cookieand the database. The system then updates the domain cookie and thedatabase cookie with the latest information (e.g., page visits,personalization, profile info, etc).

Domain cookie does not exist. When a CAM 20/30 customer logs in, thesystem checks for a domain cookie on the user's PC. If a cookie is notfound, the system searches the database with the unique number. Thesystem associates the unique ID with a CIN/BIBID and updates the domaincookie and the database. The system then updates the domain cookie andthe database cookie with the latest information (e.g., page visits,personalization, profile info, etc).

No Domain cookie and no DB cookie. When a CAM 20/30 customer logs in,the system checks for a domain cookie on the user's PC. If a cookie isnot found, the system searches the database with the unique number. Ifthe database also cannot find a corresponding record, the system createsa domain cookie and a database cookie with the unique identifier and theCIN/BIBID. The system then updates the domain cookie and the databasecookie with the latest information (e.g., page visits, personalization,profile info, etc).

Applications to access cookies from multiple domains. When a customerbrowses the Bank's AO website, the browsing experience may be cached ineither a domain cookie on the PC or in a database. Then, when thecustomer browses the Bank's general website, the AO website cookieshould be retrievable to aid in displaying relevant content. The systemupdates the respective domain cookies with the behaviors of therespective websites.

The database for in session data stores all required data. The datashould be accessible to any front-end application or Sales Tools.Fields/data to be cached should be configurable and updateable byBusiness in easy steps. For example, the number of days to for theapplication to expire should be configurable. Data should be deletedfrom the database automatically after the “expiry days” have passed.

Additional Specifications

Customer Database. Preferably, the system uses a single group standardcustomer database. In some embodiments, the customer database that allsoftware is certified against is CDU. However, not all countriesnecessarily use CDU. In some embodiments, the account opening system mayprovide a standard interface (certified for CDU) for submitting andreceiving customer data. For any country that is not using CDU, theremay be a degree of regional IT customization required. For existingcustomers, who have passed through the identification and verificationchecks, if they apply for a new product, all of their existing data ispreferably available automatically during the application process andany application forms that are presented to the customer willautomatically be pre-filled with any of the existing data held in thecustomer database. As previously mentioned, it is feasible that forexisting customers an entity may not wish to display the existing datato the customer (e.g. in the “One Click Buy” scenario), but the data ispreferably present in the background and is attached to the application.

Security. In some embodiments, there is a mechanism to authenticate auser for log in so that only legitimate people can submit applicationsand inquire on their status. New customers (or existing customerswithout credentials) may, for example, create their own credentialsonline, which can be used immediately to access their newly openedAccount or to view their saved applications.

ID&V provides the capability to support username, password and tokenbased validation of identity on return visits of customers andnon-customers. ID&V system capabilities include: Single Sign On (usersigns on once and this login applies to all navigation across servicesthe organization's platform); OTP One Time Password (user accessessystem with a single-use password); Device ID (ability to use vendorsolution in order to identify the customer or customer's device ofaccess, e.g., 41st Parameter); and Transaction Signing. In a functionprotected by Transaction Data Signing, the customer enters details aboutthe transaction (for example the last 6 digits of a destination accountnumber) in to the OTP device (e.g., the Vasco DP270) which thengenerates a unique transaction authorization code which is specific tothat transaction and the customer's OTP device. This code is enteredback in to the channel and only if the correct code is received by ourservers will the transaction proceed.

Security standards may be set globally with less interpretation requiredby local security teams, but standards can be amended to meet localregulatory requirements, individual entity threat/risk landscape, etc.

Capacity. The capacity of what the account opening system can handle ispreferably in line with a standard interne proposition found in theindustry/best practices in terms of the following items: ExpectedTransaction Rate (e.g., for one bank U.S. cards alone handled 27 millioncard applications in 2007), Expected Transaction Peak Rate (maximumexpected), Expected number of users (customers and staff), Data Storagerequired, and Robust Service Level Agreements. When considering thenumber of users, this includes both customers accessing the system viacustomer channels and staff users accessing the system via staffchannels, as they can all be accessing the system at the same time.

Availability, Support, Reliability. Preferably, the system is available24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Each function suppliedis able to perform as designed at all times. As described above, theproduct application may be saved as it is being captured, so in theexceptional case of, say, a power failure, when the user resumes theapplication, data already entered and saved will not need re-keying.

Site Adaptation. Due to regional requirements (e.g., local language,compliance and regulatory issues, etc.) some degree of localcustomization may be required to the “out-of-the-box” software if a sitehas any special requirements. Any regional best practices are preferablyincorporated into the system.

National Language Support (NLS). In some embodiments, the systemsupports local languages of different sites in addition to Englishlanguage. This support may include, for example:

-   -   Ability to capture, store and display data for all languages and        character sets belonging to those languages (e.g. double-byte        character sets, Cyrillic character sets, diacritics, etc.)    -   Support for display of screens, field labels, error messages,        help text, etc in the user's preferred language (e.g. French,        English, Chinese in Canada)    -   Support for the user to be offered and be able to toggle between        supported languages    -   Ability to support at least 2 languages concurrently, one of        which should not necessarily be English. For instance the system        may support 2 languages concurrently but one of them has to be        English. However a country such as Algeria has French and Arabic        as spoken and/or legal communication languages, so requires 2        languages other than English.    -   Ability to generate communication in a customer's preferred        language with the ability to include more than 1 language per        communication (e.g. address in English, text in Chinese or, as        in the Algeria example from above, the legal signed copy of a        terms and conditions is required in Arabic but a French version        might also be supplied to aid the customer's understanding of        what they are signing)—preferably covered by the communications        work stream    -   Ability to capture a customer's name in local (2nd) language        (e.g. required by Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern countries) and        indicate which name should be used (This is an additional name        field—so the customer profile may have two name fields, one in        English (for example) and one in Chinese (for example)    -   All content should be externalized, so that the Business can        make any changes and apply them, without the need to engage IT        resources to complete

Usability. In some embodiments, the system supports system requirementsthat require compliance with accessibility and disability laws (e.g.,providing bigger font size options for customers who may have visionimpairments, etc.). However, as accessibility/disability laws may varyfrom country to country, during the local implementations it may benecessary to audit the core system to ensure it complies with any localregulations surrounding accessibility (e.g., section 503 standards inthe U.S., Disability Discrimination Act in the UK, etc.). Thispreferably extends to communication materials that could be required,for example, in Braille, large print or audio.

Other. In various embodiments, additional functionality of the accountopening system may include one or more of the following:

JSP files are preferably editable by the entity without IT interventionand without code deployment to make the JSPs live.

The entity may configure (without IT intervention) whether eachapplication form requires secure access. The entity may disable browserauto complete features for any application form.

In some embodiments, Web Analytics (e.g., Web Trends) and MI logging aresupported.

The application preferably provides a facility to validate/check thevalidations applied and the backend database communication implementedwithout deploying the forms into a production/UAT/Test environment. Theapplication also preferably provides a facility to generate separatereports for validation applied to individual fields and backend databaseimplementation.

The entity may configure (without IT intervention) whether the data heldin session for application forms is cleared on exit of the applicationform.

The loading time for the application/form should be within the set timelimits. The application tool is preferably able to fully load a form fordisplay in the designer within a specified time (e.g., X seconds) duringthe peak access period. All graphics and text of the designers fullyload in under X seconds during the peak access period. Output formswithout graphics and without custom validations also fully load on apage in under X seconds during the peak access period. If theapplication is using CAPTCHA within the form, the response time from theCAPTCHA server should be well within the set turnaround time

Preferably, the application provides a sample backend implementation forhost database; provides the facility to customize the backendcommunication to the host database as per the business needs; andprovides a common implementation approach that facilitates the businessto connect to the database of choice.

Architecture Specifications System Architecture

The system architecture supporting the Account Opening process isdescribed below. This section covers component and operational models,security, data architecture, and services architecture. These systemarchitecture models define the system design in terms of functional andphysical models and by showing the placement of the IT solution onplatforms. Technical detail is provided, for example regarding softwareand hardware, application structure, network infrastructure, systemmanagement, and environments.

FIG. 38 depicts the high-level functionality that is included in theAccount Opening invention. This is the target functional break-down,subsequent figures will illustrate the break-down.

Table 8 provides a summary of the functions provided by the variouslogical components in the Account Opening system, grouped by functionalarea.

TABLE 8 Logical Component Description Content Terms and If used, Staticcontent used to build Terms and Conditions Conditions for a customer.T&C's can be universal, product or customer based (also may includeT&C's specific to a delivery channel - Phone Banking or Internet)Presentation The content used to build the presentation view to thecustomer or agent Entitlements Rules Defines how a user may use theAccount Opening system Core Banking Deposit Account Owns the creation,transaction processing, and Management maintenance of deposit accounts -including Term Deposits, Checking, Saving accounts. Provides ability toconfigure options for a supported product. Rates and Fees Define therates and fees that will apply for a given product. These rates/fees maybe specific to the customer and their relationship with the Bank.Intra-Account Supports the movement of funds from one Transfers HSBCdeposit account to another Cards Cards Account Support the creation andmaintenance of Card Management related accounts - including ATM/Debitand Credit cards. Rates and Fees Define the rates and fees that willapply for a given product. These rates/fees may be specific to thecustomer and their relationship with the Bank. Web InterfaceCommunications The user interface to maintain communication ManagementUI preferences Document The user interface for maintaining documentsManagement UI Account The user interface to support Account OpeningOpening activities for customers and staff Application The userinterface to support the maintenance Maintenance of Account Openingapplications Authentication The user interface to allow a customer/agentto authenticate themselves into the AO System. Queue The user interfacefor maintaining work items Management in the Queue Management System UIPayments Payments Validation of a payment, including verifyingValidation the debit/credit sources Credit Card The ability to debitinternal credit card Payments accounts as a means of funding newaccounts Intra-Account Supports the movement of funds from one TransfersHSBC account to another Security Identity Validating the identity of anew/existing Validation customer. Data Reference Common data that isused by multiple channels, and systems. Examples include currency codes,country tables. Product Maintain the metadata associated with aCatalogue product - rates, fees, attributes, etc. Business IntelligenceChannel MI Capture of business intelligence data from front-end andnon-product system applications Product MI Capture of businessintelligence data from product systems. Sales Services Contact Capturesignificant contacts between the Bank History and customers. CrossSelling The ability to sell a customer products similar to the ones theyhave selected. Communication Storage of customer communications historyHistory Tracking ID Storage of a product identifier (previously known aspromo code) from the local channel application for end to end producttraceability Application Processing Service APe will expose numerousMacro Business Execution Services required to open an account. TheseMacro Services will be the entry point into Ape, they will have accessto Save and Retrieve Application Data, and they will execute the MacroService via any number of Sub-Services per the Service Configurationtables. Service Includes Service Rules that define the entryConfiguration criteria for a Macro Service. Enables multiple executionpaths for different Macro Services, application types and conditions.Service Includes the logging of all activity related Tracking to theapplication, and maintains the state of the application and productswithin the application. Application The data that is either entered bythe customer Data or the system as a result of completing an accountopening process. The data is similar to what would be entered onto apaper-application form Application BI Application BI will be generatedvia regular and Business feeds from the Service Tracking tables. BAMActivity will provide the ability to understand what is Monitoringhappening within the AO System - including (BAM) the ability to retrievestatistics on the number of in-flight applications, saved applications,etc System Provides the functions necessary for general Maintenancesystem housekeeping and administration. Provides application archiving,aging, expiry logic. Decisioning Application Before offering a productto a Risk customer/prospect, the bank will evaluate the risk that theapplication has. This can involve reviewing the customer details, andthe product they have selected. Up/Down Sell As a result of anapplication decision, the bank may wish to provide the customer with aproduct that is either higher or lower than the product they hadselected. This ability is tied to an application decision. WorkflowQueue Supports non-STP activities with AO. Management Examples includefraud checks that are to be completed by bank agents; follow-ups thatrequire customers to submit signed documents, etc. Involved PartyContact The details on how the bank will contact the Details customerCustomer Details on the customer Details Relationship Link betweencustomers i.e. no business need to understand the details, e.g.:Husband/Wife. Contact How the bank should contact the customer -Preferences such as only after 5pm on Friday. How alerts triggered by aproduct system should be delivered. (Alerts are de-scoped from AO 1.2)Terms and Used to capture the acceptance of Terms and ConditionsConditions with the bank. These can be used in Acceptance subsequent AOapplications to ensure customers are not requested to sign somethingthey already have completed. Phone Banking The details around a PhoneBanking profile - (IVR) Profile including available accounts, limits,etc Internet The details around an Internet Banking Banking profile -including available accounts, Profile limits, etc Product Link betweencustomer and arrangements which Arrangement have with bank Role Link tocustomer that business needs to understand the detail, e.g. guarantor,beneficiary Relationship Assign an RM to the customer Manager CustomerCommunications Communication The delivery method for communicationDelivery Document Manage documents, retrieve from archive, Managementgenerate, etc. Document Creating documents from templates and Generationdynamic data Document Transformation Document Long-term archive fordocuments Archive Outbound Channels Print Ability to print generateddocuments SMS Delivery of communications via SMS channel e-Mail Deliveryof communications via e-mail channel

Based on the logical architecture break-down, an exemplary physicalarchitecture of the Account Opening System is shown in FIG. 39. Thesystem is based on components. This physical architecture is one exampleof a possible architecture; locations of certain functional areas mayvary, and in some cases the system architecture may bear strongerresemblance to the logical view than shown in this figure. For example,in some embodiments, Service Profiles (Internet, Phone Banking) mayreside in current host systems instead of the CDM, Communication Historymay be provided by ICCM (instead of Sales Services), and Product Catalog(Product Options) may be provided by FE configuration files or localentity systems.

Account Opening User Interface

The Account Opening front-end captures customer application data andprovides flexibility in creating the User Interface (UI) aspects for theAccount Opening customer journey, which are decoupled from theunderlying business processes. Flexibility is provided through linkingtogether the Account Opening components and externalizing businesscontrolled view elements without the business being required to know thetechnical implementation of the underlying business processes.Accordingly, the present invention advantageously decouples thefront-end interface and/or user journey from the underlying businessprocesses.

FIG. 40 shows an exemplary logical view of the front end (FE) userinterface (UI). As shown in FIG. 40, to provide flexibility on the userinterface, the Account Opening components contain screens composed of UIcomponents, content, and links. The UI Component is further broken downinto Data Structures, layout (including attributes such as ‘read-only’),and validation rules (for individual fields within that UI component).The Content section allows for business-defined content, and the Linksallow the user to perform actions. The view components may be deployableas content using the BDE.

Support for multiple UI flows is provided, allowing the Business tomonitor (e.g., through BI) the effectiveness of the Account Openingjourneys. Once a journey has been started for a given application, itremains the same for the life of the application. This should remain thesame for applications in all supported channel so there are operationalimpacts of keeping the Channel configurations aligned.

The majority of interactions from the Account Opening Front-End (FE)will be with the APe application which supports the account openinglifecycle. Exceptions to this may include, for example, retrieval ofexisting customer data, communication history retrieval/re-send, andwork-item updates (QMS).

In some embodiments, the Account Opening Front-End is a Portalapplication, for example, written against the R2DS for Java Framework.Presentation layer (UI) components may be written, for example, usingJava.

FIG. 41 illustrates an exemplary physical architecture of the Front-Endaccording to some embodiments. A generic Action/Render phase is shown.The Service Proxy is the exit point from the FE to the host systems, ofwhich APe is a focus.

To facilitate a flexible user journey, the Account Opening FE solutionis broken into multiple portlets. These can then be chained together tocreate the desired journey. Flexibility is provided through linkingtogether and/or chaining the multiple portlets and externalizingbusiness controlled view elements without the business being required toknow the technical implementation of the underlying business processes.Accordingly, in some embodiments of the invention, the front-endinterface and/or user journey is decoupled from the underlying businessprocesses using, for example, the chaining of multiple portlets.

FIG. 42 is an exemplary diagram of front end portlets that may bechained together in various ways to create a flexible user journey. Insome embodiments, there are there are nine (9) Portlets, with thebreak-down as shown.

In some embodiments, a Public Parameter Interceptor enablescollaboration of multiple portlets within a single portal instance. Adeclared parameter is passed to other portlets that declare the sameparameter. The parameter is injected into the work-context, also viaconfiguration, for the portlet to use. AO may use this mechanism toaccept input data, such as entity ID, channel ID, staff ID (optional),customer ID (optional), one or more product ID and promo-code, fromother components. AO internally may publish application ID and applicantID to coordinate activities between portlets specific to AO. Thisinterceptor is used in the action chain to receive values published byother portlets.

This Interceptor allows data to be passed into Global State, as shown inFIG. 43.

In some embodiments, a Navigation Rule Processor supports user journeyflexibility within Account Opening. A configuration file defines thescreen flow across different portlets, including branching logic.

FIG. 44 is an exemplary diagram of a navigation rule processor logic. Asshown, the navigation rule processor receives the flow ID, step ID andaction ID as the input and uses this input to map to the definition inthe flow configuration. If a branch is defined, the processor loads thecorresponding branch utility to resolve the next-step; otherwise, thenext-step mapped directly to the action is added to work-context.

A branch utility is a simple Java class conforming to a simpleinterface. These may be pre-build Java classes based on various businessrules that are used in AO, for example for evaluating a serviceinvocation result, such as application accepted or declined, andevaluating input data that are relevant to UI journey. In someembodiments, these classes may be isolated from other general rules,which are implemented in the processors or services, to allow aconsolidated configuration for the UI journey.

Cooperative portlet (Wiring) is used to support the transition from oneportlet to another. Each account opening portlet will declare a webservices description language (WSDL), similar to the following example,as a target portlet.

A portlet that wishes to navigate to another portlet must also declare aWSDL as a source portlet. This portlet also requires the navigationprocessor to trigger the screen transition from one portlet to theother.

FIG. 45 is an exemplary diagram of communication between portlets. Inthis diagram, there is the Product Selection Portlet on the channel sideand three portlets—Gather Applicant Data, Validate Identity and T&C—onthe account opening side. As shown in the diagram, all portlets withinaccount opening may be wired to each other. This provides theflexibility to move from a portlet to any other portlet within accountopening. The initiating portlet will send the flow ID and step ID aswired parameters to the target portlet. The target portlet will use theparameters to display the relevant screen (step) to the user. Screen(Step) navigation within a portlet will be handled using the flowconfiguration described previously.

Application Processing

The Application Processing Engine (APe) provides a common applicationprocessing engine for processing the necessary customer information fromboth internal and external sources and analyzes the data to arrive at aset of decisions that offer the customer the right products at the righttime. APe exposes the Macro Business Service operations required to openan account, and can execute any number of sub-services to fulfill eachMacro Service operation. APe is the system of record for the applicationdata, and knows the status and steps involved in processing theapplication. An exemplary logical diagram of APe is shown in FIG. 46.

APe provides tracking of business processes and an business view of allapplication statuses. In addition, daily BI extracts may be provided totrack historic activity.

All macro service operations store any passed data in the applicationdata store maintaining the system of record.

Each macro service operation call will consult the service rules to thencall the sub services required. This is configurable by the entity. APemay be delivered with sub services for core interfaces (e.g., CDMCustomer Data Management). Each entity can author their own subservices.

If an application is resident within APe for an extended period or anapplication is at a persistent pending state a batch process mayidentify the applications and trigger entity required activities. Thesecan include prompts to queue management or calls to the communicationssystem. Exemplary logical functions for this batch operation are shownin FIG. 47.

For applications submitted by new-to-bank customers (or on their behalfby Call Center staff), APe determines when it is appropriate to create acustomer record in CDM. For Account Opening, preferably no customerrecords are created on the local host customer systems until time ofaccount boarding. Information on existing customers can be provided toAPe as part of the application details.

Applications are explicitly saved each time APe is called. APe allowsfor applications to be retrieved using specified application data. APealso permits a search (which may be intended for internal users only)operation to be actioned to search for existing applications to continuethe application process. Thus APe allows for suspending applications andrestarting at a later point. APe has no dependency on the interfacechannel.

In some embodiments, APe is a mainframe application written inCICS/COBOL (Customer Information Control System/COmmon Business-OrientedLanguage). All service operations into APe utilize R2DS for COBOLinfrastructure on the mainframe (preferably following GSS Global SalesServices standards). Database storage may be through standard DB2 on themainframe.

FIG. 48 shows an exemplary physical architecture for APe.

Each sub-service operation is preferably a separate COBOL program. Eachprogram will call an external service operation to fulfill a necessarymacro service operation. An example of this is the “Retrieve IP details”call for existing customers. The relevant macro service will be calledby the instantiating application (most likely the web front-end). Theservice controller will then call the sub-service which constructs theappropriate CDM service operation call to retrieve the details as thegiven service operation dictates. The sub-service will then store thedata into the application data store and this data will then be passedback to the macro service operation which will then fulfill its servicecontract to the calling application.

Cards

Credit cards are an integral delivery of the Account Opening invention.In addition, the ability to order ATM/debit cards is also provided. Forboth of these, the Cards product system is leveraged.

Requests to add a customer, account, and/or embosser records in Cardsmay be initiated through APe. Creation of a card will return the newaccount number.

To continue supporting legacy applications, the Cards services can alsobe used to create customer records within Cards when CDM is not present.

An exemplary illustration of a Cards product system is shown in FIG. 49.

Core Banking

The core deposit account receivable system is Core Banking. Core Bankingis used to create accounts, and may provide some funding capabilities.As used herein, Core Banking refers to a generic system to supportdeposit accounts. In some cases, specific reference may be made to SWH(Software House) Core Banking, One HSBC (OH) Core Banking, or entitysolutions such as RPS (Retail Processing System).

In some embodiments, SWH Core Banking (HUB) provides customer dataservices with CDM-like interfaces. Details about deployment variationsand synchronization of customer data with CDM, are provided.

Specific to the SWHCB implementation, a new channel agnostic HostAdapter Handler may provide services to OH Distribution (OHD).Internally this Handler will interact with mostly existing SWHCBcapabilities, and non-SWHCB sites will preferably implement similarfunctionality.

Reference Data/Product Data

Reference and product data are often stored in various locations withinan overall system, leading to duplication of data and potential of somedata-stores becoming out of date. Preferably, Reference and Product dataare standardized in the Account Opening system, allowing a commonmaintainable source for data.

In some embodiments, a CDM Enterprise Standard Reference (ESR) is theprimary repository for Reference Data for Account Opening. The interfaceto this data (e.g., for retrieving and caching reference and productdata) may be provided by R2DS in Java and/or COBOL spaces.

Within Account Opening, Reference Data is used to represent staticvalues that are used by multiple systems, such as Currency lists. It mayalso define basic Product Details and/or product catalog data.

A sample implementation and interfaces to product data may involve dataheld in both the ESR and in flat files (FE configuration). FIG. 50 is anexemplary diagram illustrating use of Reference/Product data. The FEdesign utilizes a Reference Data API that shields the FE code from theultimate source of the reference data. In some embodiments, there maynot be a real-time link between APe and the ESR.

Business Intelligence

An important aspect of Account Opening as disclosed herein is anunderstanding the effectiveness of the account opening process. Toachieve this, BI systems may be employed to support both Customer andStaff channels, including data feeds to BI and capturing of customerexperience activities (e.g., using WebTrends). FIGS. 51-53 are exemplarydiagrams illustrating use of Business Intelligence (BI) systems.

To increase the amount of Account Opening that is “out-of-the-box”, BImay define data feeds specific for AO, as well as the necessary reportsto review this data. The purpose for the AO specific feed is to allowthe Account Opening metrics to be utilized, for example, by a site thatdoes not yet have a full BI solution in place. Local entities may havevarying data structures and MI solutions that would impact the abilityto easily plug in AO related BI details.

To be able to provide an overall view of the effectiveness of theaccount opening process, MI data may be sourced from multiple componentswithin Account Opening. This may include, for example, the data elementsshown in FIG. 54. Feeds from product systems (Core Banking, Cards, ICCM,etc.) may be used to run reports against fund balances in accountsopened with AO.

Customer Communications

To streamline communications with the customer, the Integrated CustomerCommunications module (ICCM) acts as a layer between Account Opening(and other distribution and product components) and the communicationsystems.

The Customer Communications components receive requests for documentgeneration, based on dynamic customer data as well as more statictemplate data. Requests for out-going communication are also supportedthrough multiple delivery channels (SMS, e-mail, print-shop, etc.).Templates are managed using BDE based content repositories.

Customer communication histories may also be stored within the CustomerCommunications space.

FIG. 55 is an exemplary real-time topology diagram of the IntegratedCustomer Communications Module (ICCM).

FIG. 56 is an exemplary illustration of the ICCM supporting batchprocessing.

Queue Management

To support longer acting account opening processes, as well as to enablehuman (and non-human) intervention with the AO application, integrationwith queue management is provided with Account Opening.

The rules to define when an application should be put into queuemanagement services (QMS) may be defined within APe. Work items may becreated by APe within QMS based on reason codes. All management of usergroups, queues and work assignments internally with QMS are preferablydefined by QMS.

Workflow Services (WFS) supports on or more of: Queue Management,viewing queued transactions, transaction selection, transactionassignments based on queue assignments, entitlements, entity leveltracking, monitoring work-in-progress, and escalation on time-boundcriteria.

FIGS. 57-59 are exemplary diagrams of Queue Management System (QMS) andWorkflow Services (WFS) integration.

Funding

Funding is an important part in ensuring that new customers utilize theaccount they have just opened. In various embodiments, the systemprovides for funding using: Cash/Paper Check; Electronic Debit from BankAccount (internal); Electronic Debit from Credit Card Account(internal); Cross-Currency Funding; and/or Balance Transfers. Funding ofaccounts may include global accounts.

FIG. 60 is an exemplary diagram of the Payment Processing Engine (PPE)that supports this feature, showing the interactions required by thePPE. The Payment Processing Engine is the core of the Payments solution,and it is invoked by APe for executing the funding instructions.

Sales Services

Sales Services is a central set of sales, support and marketing servicesfor the capture and management of customer interactions with thechannels and the delivery of common information and relationshipdecisions across all channels.

This includes the management of any process, events, activities or tasksrelated the sale and marketing of products and services but not relatedto the fulfilment or management of those products and services. Alsoincluded are any processes, events, activities or tasks related tocustomer service that are not directly related to the management orservicing of a financial product.

In addition, interfaces may be developed against Sales Services toprovide Contact History capabilities. Direct integration with the SalesServices Interaction Manager (IM) may be provided. A standard interfacewill be provided, so local sites using this feature will preferablyintegrate Sales Services into any legacy CRM/Sales Services host systemthey may have via appropriate adaptor services.

Involved Party

In some embodiments, the strategic source for Involved Party (Customer)details is the CDM (Customer Data Management) component. The system CDMcan establish in a new way a jointly owned product with SWH CoreBanking. The joint ownership of a product is defined by the associationof a product arrangement to two or more involved parties in the system.A new type of address (the correspondence address) may be used toidentify the address associated with this joint ownership. WithinAccount Opening, the CDU Involved Party ID (IP ID) is preferably usedwhen referring to an Involved Party or Involved Party Role. As CDM isbuilt to support regional capabilities, calls to retrieve Involved PartyDetails should provide details on the organization unit, group member(entity), and country code.

In some embodiments, the CDU IP ID has the following characteristics:

It is not globally unique; it is unique within an entity

It is a 30 character attribute

Prefix 00-05 is for Involved Party Roles

Prefix 20 is for Organization Units

Prefix 10 is for Organizations

Prefix 11-19 is for Individuals

Application Overview

The Account Opening system provides both customers and agents theability to open new accounts with the Bank. To support this process AOprovides required functions, or integrates with existing Channelfeatures where available.

-   -   Channel Agnostic Functions. The system is built with the        customer and Internet channel in mind, increasing the re-use of        services and features across customer and staff facing        applications.    -   Customer Creation. Customers can be created based on CDM service        models, and can be created on CDM as part of core certification.        The CDU IP ID may be used as the customer number for new        customers; it has a mapping to the HUB DCN (domestic customer        number).    -   Open New Account. Accounts may be opened to both Core Banking        and Cards provider systems after the creation of a customer        record in CDM. APe is responsible for linking these new accounts        back to the customer's profile in CDM.

To support legacy co-existence, SWHCB customers may be created for bothCB and Cards accounts (if not already available).

-   -   Configure Product Attributes. Product attributes such as how        statements are delivered (e-statements or mail-outs) are        applicable to both customer and staff channels.    -   Status of in-flight Applications. The status of an application        is maintained within APe.    -   Funding of New Accounts. Within Account Opening, all funding        activities will be posted to the Payment Processing Engine, with        the exception of cash or paper check. In some embodiments, there        may be direct integration with Branch or Teller functionality.    -   Customer Maintenance. An existing customer has the ability to        edit pre-filled application data, and this may be passed to APe.        At a configurable point in the process flow the revised data may        be updated to CDM. It is up to local entity to define the rules        around host customer maintenance.    -   Customer Communication. Customer communications may be sent        through the ICCM module, with certain exceptions such as Cards.        In some embodiments, the secure PIN mail-out for Core Banking        will not use ICCM.    -   Customer Facing Functions. The system is built with the customer        and Internet channel in mind, increasing the re-use of services        and features across customer and staff facing applications. All        channel agnostic functions listed above are available to the        customers.    -   Staff Facing Functions. The staff features for AO preferably        include all of the customer functions, as well as additional        functions such as the following, provided only for bank agents        and staff.    -   Maintain Application. Application Maintenance enables        back-office, branch and call center staff users to track and        resolve work-items associated with customer's product        application(s). In addition, Application Maintenance provides        ability for staff users to update customer application data and        over-ride certain milestone statuses related to the product        application.    -   Maintain Communications. This function enables a staff user to        view communications, re-send a communication, or trigger a        communication. In addition, communication templates can be        maintained by entitled staff users.    -   Maintain Reference Data. This function enables a staff user to        maintain reference data. In some embodiments, reference data may        be maintained in multiple locations, such as the ESR, host        systems, and the Front-End. Maintenance methods may be as shown        in Table 9. However, preferably the reference data is stored in        common source.

TABLE 9 Reference Data Store Maintenance Method ESR Maintained byBusiness or IT Users via ESR Admin Tool (GUI) F/E Property FileMaintained by Business or IT Users via BDE Host Systems Maintained byBusiness or IT Users via Legacy User Interfaces

Architecture Decisions

In various embodiments, the system architecture of the present inventionis designed to meet one or more of the following criteria:

APe will duplicate data at point of application from other systems as ithas to maintain an enduring application system of record.

The front-end will always call APe using predefined service contracts.

The front-end will use standard 2G technology (e.g., WP, BDE, etc.) andspecifically will be built using R2DS for Java.

The front-end user journey will be decoupled from the underlyingbusiness process provided by APe.

APe will run on the mainframe in CICS/COBOL.

APe will track and execute processes but it is not a holistic BusinessProcess Management system.

The front-end will have control over what screens and sub-flows are tobe displayed at any point in time.

APe will call other systems using fixed format messaging/servicecontracts only.

The actions (sub services) of an APe macro service operation areconfigurable.

APe will be built to support a regional deployment.

The front-end will be composed of several portlets that can be chainedtogether to create the user journey. Flexibility is provided throughlinking together and/or chaining the multiple portlets and externalizingbusiness controlled view elements without the business being required toknow the technical implementation of the underlying business processes.Accordingly, in some embodiments of the invention, the front-endinterface and/or user journey is decoupled from the underlying businessprocesses using, for example, the chaining of multiple portlets.

The front-end will be built to support flexibility of look and feel,including adding/removing elements, content, and layout.

Local extension of core Account Opening data is provided by allowingadditional space on all FE-Ape “save” and “retrieve” macro-services(e.g., not on execution macros).

The Involved Party ID within AO will be based on the GMR (group metadata repository/group data standard).

Data requirements will be based off of a predetermined AO DataDictionary.

Reference data will be hosted on ESR.

Security Architecture

The Account Opening system is constructed to interact with standard andstrategic security systems where appropriate.

In some embodiments, users accessing AO may be authenticated throughexisting legacy applications prior to Account Opening. This will happenprior to Account Opening being invoked. Account Opening itself willevaluate the staff or customer ID that may be passed via an SSO SingleSign On token for Internet users or via URL parameter passing for Staffchannel users.

In some embodiments, communications with host systems are built withhost-trust behavior, with no specific security tokens or othermechanisms to authenticate the request at the host. The provided staffor customer ID will be passed into AO, and also passed to any hostsystem that is invoked by AO.

In some embodiments, R2DS Entitlements may provide out-of-the-boxentitlements at a macro level (e.g., Portal Page, navigation), anddefine a file based solution to provide micro entitlements.

Existing entitlement solutions may be used to control access to most ofthe Account Opening components, as indicated below.

-   -   ICCM: Teamsite used to deploy configuration and maintain        communication templates    -   Queue Management: Existing queue entitlements solution provided        by QMS; OH Distribution screens entitled using R2DS Entitlements    -   Decision Service: Existing entitlements solution    -   APe: No tooling provided; Access restricted by standard        mainframe control rights    -   FE: Code/content deployed using BDE    -   CDM: Reference data updated using ESR user interface    -   BI: Existing report access control

In some embodiments, no channel integration is provided with AccountOpening. Access to Account Opening may depend in part upon theapplication that entities deploy AO to. This could be, for example, anexisting staff/customer application.

Encryption is preferably used as part of the PIN Generation andtransmission capabilities of AO. The Retrieval Code used for Save andRetrieval preferably uses a hashing solution for storage with clear-textfor transmission.

Operational Architecture Time-Out Handling

Preferably, Account Opening makes use of standard Infrastructure methodsfor handling system latencies that exceed operational thresholds.

For example, the FE as a consumer should contact APe as its provider,and should not continue to wait for a response in the event that APe isdown, or non-responsive.

There are two aspects, one which is in control of the application andone that is set by the overarching infrastructure. A Message Queue (MQ)message expiry time may be set by the regional ITO team to ensureoverall response timeouts are controlled within the infrastructure.

A WAIT time may be set by the consumer applications to determine howlong they will wait for a response from any given provider. The valueitself may be set, for example, using standard JMS/JNDI (Java MessageService/Java Naming and Directory Interface) configuration on theWAS/WPS (Websphere Application Server/Websphere Portal Server)platforms.

Similar settings may also be set within R2DS4C to control responses fromthe underlying host/fulfilment systems.

Exact timeout settings for an implementation of Account Opening willultimately depend on the entity business process and system flows.

Error Handling

FIG. 61 is an exemplary diagram illustrating the Error Handling process.

Services may be called by messages, and in response messages there areattributes to state the success/failure of service call as follows:

-   -   Response Code: states success or failure of call. It also shows        the severity of the error.    -   Reason Code: expresses the extra information about the error,        the area of error, the reason of failure, or warning        information.    -   Tracking Code: provides a code that can pin-point the error in        the Host system's error logs (if provided)

Different service providers may have different Response and ReasonCodes. AO should uniquely react to different provider's Response/Reasoncodes. For this purpose, APe plays an important role to unify the codes.

Table 10 lists exemplary standardized response codes. In idealsituation, all back-ends should return these codes as a result ofservice calls.

TABLE 10 Response Code Description 000 Success Continue to nextcomponent in flow 004 Warning Continue to next component, and eithershow the warning to the user or log it 008 Host Validation Errors Theuser is expected to be able to recover from this error if they modifytheir data input. 016 Fatal Error Throw user to the Application Errorpage.

As mentioned before, different service providers may return theirproprietary reason codes upon errors. These reason codes will be passedfrom APe to AO FE without change. AO FE will display the appropriatemessage to user based on the received Reason code.

The error handling process is described in the following example: APecalls one or a few Micro Services. The response returns back from thecalled micro service, APe receives a non “000” Response Code. The ReasonCode(s) will now be reviewed. APe will proceed to call next microservice, if any. APe will return Macro Service result which contains thestandard Response Code, along with proprietary Reason Code. FE willproceed to next step, or display appropriate messages in case oferrors/warnings.

Audit Logging

The AO framework can maintain traceability of user actions by loggingthis information against the User Action History table in APe. Outboundcustomer communications and interactions between Customer ServiceRepresentatives (CSRs/staff/agents) and customers are logged in thecommunication history and contact history tables, respectively.

Deployment View Logical Deployment Diagrams

The diagrams described below illustrate a potential logical deploymentview to the core Account Opening application. This view is based on thefunctional architecture and may change based on changes in design andcoding.

Account Opening is developed using CDM as the master for customer data;however, this may not necessarily be the pattern used in all sites. Twological deployment views are illustrated below.

FIG. 62 is an exemplary logical deployment diagram for account opening,in which Customer Data Management (CDM) has primary responsibility forcustomer data.

FIG. 63 is an exemplary diagram that is a variant of FIG. 62, showing anexemplary configuration in which Core Banking/HSBC Universal Banking(HUB) has primary responsibility for the customer data. This diagram isa variant to the deployment configuration shown in FIG. 62, also basedon a SWH implementation. It depicts the HUB DTS (data transformationservices) configuration under which HUB will act as the customer master.In the absence of the two way data bridge between HUB and CDM, thisdeployment pattern may be followed for HUB entities (e.g., until theycan migrate to using CDM as the customer master).

Integration Architecture

To fulfill the requirements of customer acquisition, and accountopening, Account Opening needs to integrate with a large number ofsystems, running on a variety of platforms—e.g., Java, AS/400, andMainframe. In some cases, systems act as both service consumers andservice providers.

FIG. 64 shows an exemplary Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)architecture of the Account Opening system.

To support this integration, in some embodiments, AO implements a fullEAI mediation pattern using R2DS for COBOL technologies, as shown inFIG. 64. Items shown in green on the diagram are the standard R2DSintegration components. Items in red are non-R2 integration components,but where noted they do support integration with the standard ISMmessage envelope—this includes QMS, PPE, and ICCM. For these threecomponents it would be possible to go direct from consumer to providerwithout using mediation.

Batch View

Several batch systems may be used in the overall AO system, althoughsome may not be directly related to AO and may exist purely in existingproduct systems. The batch integration diagram in FIG. 65 illustratesexemplary dependencies. The diagram indicates various batch links thatmay be present in the system. The purpose and direction of the batchfeed is indicated within the diagram.

In some embodiments, the batch feeds are as follows:

Application Processing Engine

-   -   Application Ageing    -   BI Feeds    -   Communication Triggers

Core Banking

-   -   ICCM    -   BI Feeds

Cards

-   -   Communication of Card PINs    -   BI Feeds

Sales Services

-   -   Extract of Contact History data

CDM

-   -   None

ICCM

-   -   Printing    -   BI Feeds

Payments Processing Engine

-   -   Transaction Posting to Cards    -   For indicating success/failure of posted transactions

BI

-   -   BI CPT daily (interface with SWHCB and Cards)    -   BI CM weekly (internal AO weekly summarization process)

Entity Extension View

Aside from the configurability of the solution, the Account Openingframework is built to support various types of entity extensions to meetlocal deployment needs. Some of the extension points supported by theframework include: user interface extensions, process extensions, dataextensions, message extensions, and communication extensions.

Extension points for user interface extensions may include, for example,addition of new portlets in the front-end application, addition of newpages in the front-end application, addition of new data fields tofront-end screens, and implementation of local exit to cross-serverportlets (e.g., instant IB registration).

Extension points for process extensions may include, for example,implementation of local exit to manual processes (e.g., manual VI), andimplementation of decision extensions.

Extension points for data extensions may include addition of new datafields in the front-end application (if UI related), addition of newdata fields in the application processor (APe, BI), and addition of newdata fields in the respective host systems (e.g., CDM, SWHCB, Cards,PPE, ICCM, BI).

Extension points for message extensions may include addition of newmacro services in APe to support local functionality, addition of newservices in host systems to support local functionality, and addition ofnew data fields in the designated local data section of a message.

Extension points for process extensions may include addition of new datafields to communication template, addition of new data fields to termsand conditions, and addition of new communication template (documents).

Further, host extensions for addition of new services and programs inhost systems, may be supported.

FIG. 66 illustrates various types of alternative entity extensionssupported by the Account Opening system and process to meet localdeployment needs. The implementation of entity extension points mayinvolve local development and integration, as new UI elements, messagemapping, retrieval from within APe, and mapping to entity host systemsis required.

Data View

This section describes the data propagation between applications andapplication components in order to deliver the business requirements.The information flow and security classification of the information mayvary.

In some embodiments, data structures are based on a combination of theData Dictionary and CDM (for IP related data items).

Account Opening touches many provider systems, each of which will holddata (customer, product, operational).

Data entities involved in the AO process may include, but are notlimited to:

User, customers, accounts

Keys used for accessing major data entities (e.g. TPID, transaction refnumbers, etc.)

Session Data and User Profile

Data cleanup (including system logs) and recycling

Reference Data

Product Configuration Data

Archival of data

To open an account, the AO system interfaces with many of the Bank'scomponents. Along with this comes a distributed view of the data withinthe overall system, as shown in FIG. 67.

In some embodiments, the ESR is the strategic repository for referencedata, and is used to retrieve all reference data lists, which will bereturned as codes. Converting these codes for human consumption may behandled at the presentation layers—FE and the ICCM communicationcomponents—for example, as shown in FIG. 68.

Given that AO interacts with multiple host systems, the capabilities ofAO must support multiple definitions of data. Specifically the datafield lengths may vary. In some embodiments, the AO field sizes arebased on a combination of the target and maximum applicable field sizes.When not all systems support the strategic field size, the local entitypreferably provides truncation closest to the source of the data atimplementation time—limiting the size of captured data at the FE ensuresthe end-user cannot enter data that will be otherwise lost in thesystem. FIG. 69 is an exemplary diagram of the AO system supportingvarying definitions of data, such as data field lengths, where theleft-hand side is the target supported by the AO ‘framework’, while theright-hand side reflects a local entity implementation.

Use Cases

FIGS. 70-77 are architecture use cases illustrating exemplary end to endsystem interactions for various account opening scenarios.

The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from thedetailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claimsto cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fallwithin the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, sincenumerous modifications and variations will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to theexact construction and operation illustrated and described, andaccordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resortedto, falling within the scope of the invention.

For example, the specific sequence of the above described process may bealtered so that certain processes are conducted in parallel orindependent, with other processes, to the extent that the processes arenot dependent upon each other. Thus, the specific order of stepsdescribed herein are not to be considered implying a specific sequenceof steps to perform the above described process. Other alterations ormodifications of the above processes are also contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer system architecture decoupling theuser interface from an underlying computer executed process for openingan account for a customer, comprising: at least one computer systemincluding at least one computer processor and at least one memorystoring instructions executed by the computer system, the at least onecomputer system configured to include: a front end user interfaceplatform capturing application data, implemented by the at least onecomputer system and including at least one business interface receivinglocal business specifications for at least one of application dataelements and account opening processes performed by predeterminedapplication specific core systems and decoupled from the businessinterface; an application processing platform implemented by the atleast one computer system and accessing configurable business rules andcomprising an application processing engine performing straight-throughprocessing of the application data including managing the validation ofthe user, managing the configuring of at least one product, managing theassembling of terms and conditions relevant to the at least one productselected, managing the decisioning of the application, and transmittingthe processed application data; a customer communications moduleimplemented by the at least one computer system and managing thegenerating and sending of customer communications documents; a queuemanagement system implemented by the at least one computer system andsupporting queues on the application data outside of thestraight-through processing; a funding module comprising a paymentprocessing engine executing at least one of an account fundinginstruction and a fee instruction; and a plurality of core systemscomprising a customer data management system storing customer data, adecision engine decisioning the application, a cards product systemsupporting one or more card products, a core banking product systemsupporting deposit accounts, and a sales services system managingcustomer interactions, said plurality of core systems operativelycommunicating with said customer communications module via at least onecore system interface protocol.
 2. An end-to-end component based globalcomputer system architecture decoupling the user interface from anunderlying computer executed process, comprising: at least one computersystem including at least one computer processor and at least one memorystoring instructions executed by the computer system, the at least onecomputer system configured to include: a globally consistent front enduser interface platform implemented by the at least one computer systemand capturing application data and including at least one processingmodule defining at least one of application data elements and processflow instructions responsive to predetermined application specific coresystems, and said globally consistent front end user interface platformdecoupled from the predetermined application specific core systems; aglobally consistent application processing platform implemented by theat least one computer system and accessing configurable business rulesand comprising an application processing engine processing theapplication data including managing the validation of the user, managingthe configuring of at least one product, managing the assembling ofterms and conditions relevant to the at least one product selected,managing the decisioning of the application, and transmitting theprocessed application data; a globally consistent customercommunications module implemented by the at least one computer systemand managing the generating and sending of customer communicationsdocuments; a globally consistent queue management system implemented bythe at least one computer system and supporting queues processes thatutilize the application data; a globally consistent funding modulecomprising a payment processing engine executing at least one of anaccount funding instruction and a fee instruction; and a plurality ofcore systems comprising a customer data management system storingcustomer data, a decision engine decisioning the application, a cardsproduct system supporting one or more card products, a core bankingproduct system supporting deposit accounts, and a sales services systemmanaging customer interactions, said plurality of core systemsoperatively communicating with said globally consistent customercommunications module via at least one core system interface protocol.3. An end-to-end component based global computer system architectureaccording to claim 2, wherein said globally consistent front end userinterface platform provides the same process flow instructionsresponsive to the predetermined application specific core systems forthe life of the application.
 4. An end-to-end component based globalcomputer system architecture according to claim 2, wherein said globallyconsistent front end user interface platform is segmented into multipleportlets that are chained together to create a configurable journey withrespect to a predetermined application of at least one of theapplication specific core systems.
 5. An end-to-end component basedglobal computer system architecture according to claim 2, wherein saidglobally consistent front end user interface platform executes, incooperation with said globally consistent application processingplatform, the following use-cases comprising: present product; requeststatements; request ATM card; maintain involved party; validate identitythrough third party systems; validate identity; accept terms andconditions; execute funding; retrieve and action decision; saveapplication; retrieve application; search application; open account;activate account; archive application; and maintain application.
 6. Anend-to-end component based global computer system architecture accordingto claim 2, further comprising user interfaces including components,content, and links, wherein the components are further broken down intodata structures, layout including attributes, view components, links andvalidation rules for individual fields within the component, and whereinthe content provides defined content, the links enable the user toperform actions, and the view components are deployable as the content,and wherein said globally consistent front end user interface platformprovides flexibility when interfacing with the user interface.
 7. Anend-to-end component based global computer system architecture accordingto claim 2, wherein said globally consistent application processingplatform including the application processing engine processesapplication data received from both internal and external sources,packages at least a part of the application data and transmits thepackaged data to a decisioning system, and analyzes the application datato generate a set of decisions.
 8. An end-to-end component based globalcomputer system architecture according to claim 2, wherein said globallyconsistent application processing platform including the applicationprocessing engine tracks the application processes, provides a status ofall applications, and tracks historic activity.
 9. An end-to-endcomponent based global computer system architecture according to claim2, wherein said globally consistent application processing platformincluding the application processing engine executes the followingprocesses: saves the applications each time the application processingengine is called; enables the applications to be retrieved usingpredetermined application data; enables a search operation to beinitiated to search for existing applications to continue theapplication process; enables the suspending of the applications andrestarting of the applications; and interfaces with the applicationswithout being dependent on application specific interfaces.
 10. Anend-to-end component based global computer system architecture accordingto claim 2, wherein said globally consistent application processingplatform controls the application processes, centrally tracks theapplication processes, centrally stores the application data, andinterfaces with supporting systems and queue management.
 11. Anend-to-end component based global computer system architecture accordingto claim 2, wherein said globally consistent application processingplatform centrally stores the application data including reference datacomprising static values used by at least one of said plurality of coresystems.
 12. An end-to-end component based global computer systemarchitecture according to claim 2, wherein said application processingengine interacts with sub-system applications in their native form,without being dependent on application-specific interfaces.
 13. Anend-to-end component based global computer system architecture accordingto claim 2, wherein said globally consistent application processingplatform including the application processing engine performs at leastone of the following functions comprising: duplicate data at point ofapplication from one or more sub-systems to maintain an enduringapplication system of record; call other systems using fixed formatmessaging or service contracts; perform business configurable actions aspart of a macro service operation; perform macro services based on oneor more of entity ID, channel ID, product group ID, and business processID; transmit an application ID, reason code, and entity ID to the queuemanagement system; and initiate request to add one or more customer,account, or embosser records in the cards product system.
 14. Anend-to-end component based global computer system architecture accordingto claim 2, wherein said globally consistent application processingplatform including the application processing engine comprises one ormore of the following capabilities: application and product breakdown;determine or designate statuses; at least one of up sell, down sell, andcross sell; bundle product applications; multi-product applications;multi-party applications; single applications; service configuration;entity extension; progress logging; support; reports; and systemmaintenance.
 15. An end-to-end component based global computer systemarchitecture according to claim 2, wherein said globally consistentapplication processing platform including the application processingengine: automatically maintains the state of the application andproducts within the application; enables the application process to bepaused and resumed; and enables the application to be saved andretrieved in the same or a different channel to continue the applicationprocess.
 16. An end-to-end component based global computer systemarchitecture according to claim 2, wherein customer communicationshistories and pointers to application data including document ID,timestamp, and basic data elements are stored in the applicationprocessing platform, and templates are stored in a business developmentenvironment, for at least one of assembling and generating a customercommunications document by the customer communications module.
 17. Anend-to-end component based global computer system architecture accordingto claim 2, further comprising business processes separate from screensand manageable by business staff, said business processes and screensconfigurable by the business in any order.
 18. An end-to-end componentbased global computer system architecture according to claim 2, furthercomprising an automated agent running using background processes andinterrogating systems enabling at least one of aging of applications offthe global computer system and the queues, sending one or more customercommunications, and escalating problems.
 19. An end-to-end componentbased global computer system architecture according to claim 2, whereinsaid application processing engine further enables cross channelcapability, enabling the application processes to be started, paused andrestarted by a plurality of at least one of different users andprocesses.
 20. A global computer system architecture decoupling the userinterface from underlying business configurable computer executedprocesses, comprising: at least one computer system including at leastone computer processor and at least one memory storing instructionsexecuted by the computer system, the at least one computer systemconfigured to include: a front end user interface platform implementedby the at least one computer system and capturing application data andproviding a flexible and dynamic sequence of screens responsive toconfigurable business rules coded in application specific core systemsseparate from the screens and manageable by business staff, and saidfront end user interface platform decoupled from the applicationspecific core systems; an application processing platform implemented bythe at least one computer system and containing the configurablebusiness rules and comprising an application processing enginecontrolling the application processes, centrally tracking theapplication processes, centrally storing the application data, andcoordinating the interaction of a plurality of core supporting systemsincluding: a customer communications module implemented by the at leastone computer system and generating, managing, and delivering customercommunications documents based on the application data and businessconfigurable templates; a customer data management system storingcustomer data; a cards product system supporting one or more cardproducts; a core banking product system supporting deposit accounts; asales services system managing customer interactions; and a decisionengine decisioning the application, said plurality of core systemsoperatively communicating with the application processing platform viaat least one core system interface protocol without being dependent onapplication specific interfaces; a queue management system supportingqueues for exception processing; and a funding module comprising apayment processing engine executing at least one account funding, fee,or balance transfer instruction.